Coronavirus infection rates have tripled or more in 42 council wards across England, with a six-fold surge in one village in East Yorkshire mystifying its residents – but overall cases are falling in 95 per cent of larger boroughs.
South Cave, a village 13 miles west of Hull and home to fewer than 5,000 people, saw its infection rate surge from 123 cases per 100,000 people in the week to February 2 to 750 per 100,000 by February 9.
During the latest week 55 people – more than one per cent of the population there – tested positive for the virus in just seven days. Residents told local news website Hull Live they were ‘gobsmacked’ that cases had shot up.
Nationally, the same weekly data show 21.3 per cent of council wards saw their positive test rates rise between February 2 and 9 despite England’s lockdown still being in full force.
The areas with the highest infection rates, counted in cases per 100,000 people, in which a rate of 1,000 is one per cent of the population in a week, were in Rutland, Dorset, Staffordshire, Knowsley, Bedford, Walsall, Fenland, Doncaster and Liverpool, as well as South Cave.
But looking at larger borough areas, of which there are 315 across all of England, analysis shows that cases have come down in 95 per cent of areas.
And hospital data is promising, too, with the number of inpatients with Covid-19 now at half of its January peak in England – with 17,694 down from 34,336 – and patient numbers down 41 per cent UK-wide.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said today that there is still ‘some way to go’ in ending the second wave of Covid in the UK but said there was hope vaccines would stop the virus spreading and Boris Johnson would lay out his roadmap out of lockdown next Monday.
Granular local data show that positive test rates increased in 1,453 out of 6,791 wards known as middle super output areas, each of which generally has a population of between 5,000 and 20,000 people.
In 42 of these areas in England, the week-on-week increase in cases between February 2 and February 9 was 200 per cent or more, Government data show, meaning that the number of people testing positive tripled.
In Northallerton South and Leeming Bar, in North Yorkshire, the rate rose seven-fold, with 21 new cases in that week – this was the only area to see a bigger increase than South Cave, Newbald and Little Weighton.
The South Cave area now has the fifth highest infection rate in the country.
During the latest week 55 people – more than one per cent of the population there – tested positive for the virus in just seven days. Residents told local news website Hull Live they were ‘gobsmacked’ that cases had shot up.
The rural authority had by far the biggest spike in infections in all of the East Riding of Yorkshire in that week with cases up 511 per cent, more than double the second biggest rise of 225 per cent. 15 out of 42 boroughs in the area saw cases rise.
Only one of the tiny council wards in England had an infection rate higher than one per cent in the week ending February 9, which was Market Overton, Cottesmore and Empingham in Rutland, East Midlands, with a rate of 1,201.
Others rounding out the top 10 all had infection rates higher than 650 positive tests per 100,000 people – 0.6 per cent of the population within a week.
They were Underhill and the Grove in Dorset (861); Featherstone West, Coven and Shareshill in Staffordshire (844); Kirkby South East in Knowsley (761); Harpur in Bedford (742); Leamore in Walsall (714); Wisbech North in Fenland (686); Hatfield East in Doncaster (680) and Fazakerley South in Liverpool (656).
The areas are evenly distributed across the country, with two each in the North West, North East, Midlands and East of England, and one in the South West, but none in the South East or London.
A bigger-picture analysis of infection rates by the Press Association found that, across England, cases came down in 95 per cent of the 315 local authority areas – these are larger than middle super output areas and envelop them.
Just 12 of the areas saw their positive test rates increase, while the numbers fell in 301 places. Two did not rise or fall in the week to February 10.
The highest case rate was in Corby in Northamptonshire, with 277 new cases recorded in the seven days to February 10 – which equated to a rate of 384 cases per 100,000 people. This was down on the previous week.
The highest week-on-week increase for these bigger areas was in Copeland, Cumbria, where the rate rose from 178 cases per 100,000 to 238, with 162 new positive tests.
Calderdale in West Yorkshire had the second highest rise, up from 164 to 207, with 438 new cases.
Newark and Sherwood in Nottinghamshire had the third highest, up from 213 to 248, with 304 new cases.
Nationally, the number of people testing positive for coronavirus has plummeted in recent weeks.
NHS Test & Trace figures show that 92,399 people were diagnosed with the virus across the UK last week, down from 128,504 the week before. This was a decline of 28 per cent in a week.
And it was significantly lower than the 400,640 people who tested positive in the first week of January while the second wave was at its peak.
