Interactive map reveals how bad Covid is in YOUR local area
THIS interactive map shows the areas where Covid cases are still rising across the UK.
Data from the government suggests that over 5,000 people are still testing positive for the virus on a daily basis.
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This is however a drop from infection rates seen earlier this year when more than 60,000 people were thought to have been testing positive for the virus daily.
Infection rates are key when it comes to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s road map out of lockdown.
Today schools across the country have reopened in the first step out of the third national Covid shutdown.
Pupils up and down the country headed back to lessons for the first time since December, with a huge mass testing operation under way and extra Covid precautions in place.
Mr Johnson has insisted the country is now “ready” for the return of schools with cases, hospitalisations, and deaths having all plunged in recent weeks.
From today two people are now able to meet outdoors and care home residents have got the OK for one indoor visitor.
As society starts to reopen, infection rates are at the top of the list to ensuring other areas can safely reopen.
Data from Public Health England (PHE) reveals the areas where infection levels are still high and rising.
The interactive map above is colour coded and areas in darker shades are where infection levels are the highest.
Last week North West Leicestershire had the highest rate in England, with 205 new cases recorded in the seven days to February 28 – the equivalent of 197.9 cases per 100,000 people.
The most recent data however shows that cases in the area have fallen to 156.4 per 100,000.
Corby in Northamptonshire had the second highest rate last week, with 188.3 cases per 100,000.
Cases have also fallen here and now sit at 164.8 per 100,000.
Leicester was in third place last week with 188 cases per 100,000 and is now at 166 per 100,000.
The areas that have the highest rate of Covid infections are shaded in dark purple.
Other areas of concern include Barnsley, which in the last seven days has recorded 162 cases per 100,000.
South Holland also recorded 154.7 but this is down from the 209.4 per 100,000 recorded last week.
Other areas where cases remain at high levels include Preston, Bradford and Kingston upon Hull.
The map also shows the areas which have the lowest infection rates, and these are shaded in yellow.
Areas such as South Hams in Devon, the Isle of Wight and North Norfolk all have low infection rates.
It was yesterday reported that Covid deaths in the UK fell to below 100 for the first time since October.
Yesterday 82 deaths were reported, plunging 44 per cent of last Sunday’s figure of 144 in the latest sign the Covid vaccine rollout is reducing fatalities.
So far in the UK over 22.2 million people have received a first dose of either a Oxford/AstraZeneca jab or the Pfizer/BioNTech offering, with 1.1 million having had their second.
A further 5,177 Brits have also been diagnosed with the infection – the lowest rate since the autumn.
It’s also a drop of 14 per cent on last Sunday, when 6,035 tested positive.
Lockdown and the UK’s jabs roll-out are forcing new cases down – and will raises hopes Brits are past the darkest time of the virus.
A further 90 people aged between 34 and 97 died in hospitals in England. Three of the patients, who were aged between 54 and 87, had no known underlying health condition.
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The Midlands – currently England’s hardest-hit region – recorded 30 fatalities, while 23 people died in the North East and Yorkshire, 17 in the South East and seven in the North West.
In London – previously the epicentre of the second wave – six people lost their lives, while five died in the East and two in the South West.
Three people died in Northern Ireland, while in Wales, 18 more died.
Scotland has recorded no new deaths.