The 16 places in UK where COVID cases are increasing – map shows rate in your area

There are 16 areas in the UK where coronavirus cases are rising, according to the latest government figures.

In the week ending 3 March, the most recent date for which complete data is available, 16 out of 380 areas showed an increase in coronavirus cases.

Cases dropped by 26.2% across the UK as a whole.

The data compares favourably with the previous week, when there were rises in 55 areas.

Please scroll to the bottom to see a full list of areas where COVID cases are rising.

The interactive map below shows the seven-day case rates per 100,000 people across the UK. Areas where cases are rising are red, and areas where cases are falling are blue.

The area with the greatest increase was Argyll and Bute in Scotland, where cases rose by 150% in the seven-day period.

It had 20 COVID-19 cases in the seven-day period ending 3 March, compared to 8 cases in the previous week.

The region was followed by Dundee City with a weekly rise of 34.6% and Merthyr Tydfil, with 25.7%.

Of the 16 areas to have a weekly rise in COVID-19 cases, there are nine in England, four in Scotland, two in Northern Ireland and one in Wales.

On Tuesday, the day after schools across England began reopening their doors to millions of pupils, the country's chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, warned that the next COVID-19 surge will cause significant numbers of deaths this year.

He told MPs: “The modelling is just reflecting the fact that because this is such a common virus and gets to large numbers of people, even if you have a relatively small proportion of people still remain vulnerable, that still equates to a very large number of people overall.”

Prof Whitty suggested he is expecting a “further surge” in COVID-19 cases either in the summer or autumn going into winter.

Meanwhile, the government figures also reveal the 10 areas with the highest rate of infection per 100,000 people. Scroll down to view this list.

Barnsley has the highest seven-day rate of infection, with 156.4 cases per 100,000 people, followed by Kingston upon Hull with 155.9 and Leicester with 154.4.

Area and rate of weekly increase in cases in the seven days to 3 March:

1 Argyll and Bute 150%

2 Dundee City 34.6%

3 Merthyr Tydfil 25.7%

4 Staffordshire Moorlands 10.1%

5 Angus 7.5%

6 East Devon 4.8%

7 Gloucester 4.7%

8 Ards and North Down 4.3%

9 Clackmannanshire 3.9%

10 North Lincolnshire 3.9%

11 West Oxfordshire 3.1%

12 Gravesham 2.6%

13 Fermanagh and Omagh 2.1%

14 Kingston upon Hull, City of2%

15 Dacorum 1.8%

16 Blackpool 0.9%

Areas with highest COVID rate per 100,000 for seven days to 3 March:

1 Barnsley 156.4

2 Kingston upon Hull, City of 155.9

3 Leicester 154.4

4 Clackmannanshire 153.3

5 Boston 151.1

6 South Derbyshire 149.2

7 Corby 145.4

8 Preston 144.6

9 Bradford 143.9

10 Peterborough 143.4

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