Yahoo Finance 26 COVID hotspots where infection rates are above 100 per 100,000 – and still rising
Coronavirus cases are now above 100 per 100,000 people in 26 areas of the UK, the latest infection data show.
The government’s new figures, covering the seven days up to 17 March, show Barnsley has the highest case rate at 199.7 per 100,000 (the full list of 26 can be viewed at the bottom of this page).
They also show cases increased in all of those 26 areas compared to the previous week. Overall, cases are rising in 169 out of 380 local council areas – or 44% of the UK.
The latest seven-day case rate per 100,000 people in your area, and how this changed compared to the previous week, can be viewed on this interactive map.
UK-wide daily cases have dropped to relatively low levels when compared to January. For instance, 5,342 new cases were reported on Monday, in contrast to 68,503 on 8 January.
However, the speed of the decline has completely slowed down in March, with daily cases constantly around the 5,000 level, as demonstrated by this government graph.
And Monday’s council area figures offer another reminder – amid Boris Johnson’s promise last week of no changes to the road map out of England’s lockdown – that the virus continues to circulate.
However, it should also be pointed out that the increased numbers are likely to have been at least partly driven by the higher numbers of tests being carried out due to the return of schools. The UK’s testing capacity was expanded when schools returned on 8 March.
It comes as Johnson warned Britain must brace for another wave of COVID-19 infections being imported from Europe as cases rise on the continent.
The prime minister said he expected the third wave of cases, seen in countries such as France and Italy, to “wash up on our shores as well”.
Watch: Boris Johnson says the UK will 'feel effects' of a third wave
However, the UK will this time have the advantage of having rolled out one of the world's most successful vaccine programmes, with 27,997,976 people having received a first dose as of Sunday.
Nonetheless, England's chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty has previously warned the next COVID wave will still cause "significant numbers" of deaths later this year, partly because the vaccines are not 100% effective and partly because some people will choose not to, or are unable to, get a jab.
The 26 areas of the UK with more than 100 cases per 100,000 people
Barnsley: 199.7
Corby: 189.7
West Lothian: 170.9
Kingston upon Hull, City of: 165.9
Redditch: 161.9
North Lincolnshire: 150.9
Rotherham: 143.2
Luton: 141.7
Peterborough: 136
Boston: 131.1
Darlington: 131.1
East Renfrewshire: 130.8
Salford: 117.4
Fenland: 115.9
Sheffield: 113.5
Doncaster: 112.5
Bolton: 109.5
Melton: 109.4
North Ayrshire: 108.4
Rossendale: 107.7
Isle of Anglesey: 107.1
Bolsover: 104.3
Kirklees: 104.1
South Ayrshire: 103
Oldham: 102.1
East Northamptonshire: 100.5
Watch: How England is leaving lockdown
