Covid Update: Where In The UK Are Infection Rates Still Rising?

Covid positive cases have increased in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in recent days.

The government continues to push the public to get booster vaccines and has just announced that it will roll out the second vaccine doses to those aged 16 and 17.

Despite concerns about putting the NHS under strain this winter, prime minister Boris Johnson has insisted that Downing Street will not be implementing plan B and bringing stricter social distancing measures – or mandatory face masks – back any time soon.

Yet Covid cases continue to climb.

There were a total of 244,134 new Covid cases reported between November 3 and November 10 in the UK – data from November 11 to November 14 is incomplete and so has not been included.

This equates to 363.9 cases per 100,000 overall, which is higher than the last few days, but slightly below the previous week of 392.2 cases.

As a third of UK local authorities are recording an increase in rates, here’s a breakdown of just which areas are experiencing the largest jump in the Covid infection.

England

The current rate in England is 351.9 infections per 100,000 people.

Out of 312 local authorities in England, 85 have experienced a week on week increase. The data shows most of these infections are among schoolchildren aged between five and nine and 10 to 14, likely prompted by their return to the classroom after the October half-term.

The three local authorities in England which have seen the largest jump in new Covid cases are:

• Torridge in Devon, case rate increased from 376.9 to 638.8.

• Charnwood in Leicestershire’s rate has jumped from 350.8 to 530.7.

• North Devon now has the highest rate in England, as its rates increased from 495.1 to 645.8.

Scotland

Scotland has seen its case numbers rise up to 375.7 per 100,000 – this is an increase up week-on-week from 334.7.

This means the nation has the most Covid cases it has experienced since September 26.

Only six out of 32 areas in Scotland have experienced a decrease in case numbers.

The areas with the worst Covid rates are:

• Moray, where cases shot up from 318.7 to 501.5.

• Perth & Kinross – cases rose from 306-8 to 479.2.

• Dumfries & Galloway, where the rate increased from 394.5 to 529.4.

• Scotland has the highest local rate in the whole of the UK, in the Orkney Islands – the current infection rate is at 696.4 per 100,000.

Northern Ireland

The current rate of new cases in Northern Ireland is 482.7 per 100,000 – this has increased from 421.2 the previous week.

This is also the highest rate the nation has experienced since September 14, as Covid cases have soared in nine of the 11 local authority areas.

The case rate has jumped the most in:

• Causeway Coast & Glens, has seen a large increase from 442.9 to 628.5 – the highest rate in Northern Ireland.

• Mid-Ulster has seen an increase from 394.1 to 515.6.

• Fermanagh & Omagh’s rate has increased from 484.9 to 591.5.

Wales

Wales has the highest case rate per 100,000 across the four nations, with 486.5 cases. Most of these cases are among just five of 22 areas in the nation.

The rate had recently risen to 551.1, so Wales has actually seen a drop in its overall week-on-week data.

The largest increases between November 3 and November 10 were seen in:

• Gwynedd, where it increased from 475.3 to 551.2.

• Carmarthenshire, from 480.3 to 529.3.

• Vale of Glamorgan has the highest rate out of Wales, with 626.0 – down from 759.8.

How does the UK compare to the rest of western Europe?

Concerns over a winter wave has seen the Netherlands implement a partial lockdown for at least three weeks and Austria impose a complete lockdown for unvaccinated people for 10 days, to start with.

Both countries have see a rapid increase in Covid cases recently, with Austria’s cases soaring to more than 800 per 100,000 people.

The UK has a higher case rate than both France and Germany, but with a rate just under 400 cases per 100,000 people, it’s still a long way off Austria’s infections.