Covid: Five fastest-growing hotspots in UK revealed

The government’s latest Covid figures have revealed the top five fastest-growing hotspots in the UK.

The figures, for the seven days to 24 January, are based on the number of people who have tested positive for Covid-19 in a lab-reported test.

Data for the most recent four days has been excluded as it is incomplete and does not reflect the true number of cases.

Of the 377 local areas in the UK, 226 (60 per cent) have seen a week-on-week rise in rates, 150 (40 per cent) have seen a fall and one is unchanged.

The rate below is expressed as the number of new cases per 100,000 people.

The five UK areas with the biggest week-on-week rises are:

• Lisburn & Castlereagh (up from 1,196.3 to 1,841.6)

• Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon (1,422.0 to 1,984.5)

• Ards & North Down (1,107.6 to 1,657.5)

• Woking (1,208.9 to 1,686.9)

• Wokingham (1,106.1 to 1,579.8)

Newry, Mourne & Down in Northern Ireland continues to have the highest rate in the UK, with 3,667 new cases in the seven days to 24 January – the equivalent of 2,018.5 per 100,000 people.

This is up from a rate of 1,615.0 for the seven days to 17 January.

Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon in Northern Ireland has the second highest rate, up from 1,422.0 to 1,984.5, with 4,311 new cases.

Lisburn & Castlereagh, also in Northern Ireland, has the third highest rate, up from 1,196.3 to 1,841.6, with 2,697 new cases.

Peterborough in Cambridgeshire has the highest rate in England (1,757.9, up from 1,606.4); Newport has the highest rate in Wales (889.8, up from 683.3); and Aberdeen City has the highest rate in Scotland (581.5, down from 601.6).