Herefordshire's coronavirus infection rate at record high

The rate, which expressed as the number of new cases per 100,000 people, has risen above 100 for the first time.

The rate had been rising every week since September 23, but fell slightly last week to 79.4 cases per 100,000 people. In the most recent week it rose to 115.1 as 222 new cases were found.

The figures, for the seven days to November 8, are based on tests carried out in laboratories (pillar one of the Government’s testing programme) and in the wider community (pillar two).

Data for the most recent four days (November 9-12) has been excluded as it is incomplete and does not reflect the true number of cases.

A majority of areas in England (246 out of 315) have seen a rise in case rates. Herefordshire's rate is lower than the majority of local authority areas.

Oldham has the highest rate in England, with 1,757 new cases recorded in the seven days to November 8 – the equivalent of 741.0 cases per 100,000 people.

This is almost unchanged on 740.6 cases per 100,000 in the seven days to November 1.

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Hull has the second highest rate, up sharply from 473.5 to 727.2, with 1,889 new cases.

Blackburn with Darwen is in third place, where the rate has risen from 694.1 to 721.5, with 1,080 new cases.

The list has been calculated by the PA news agency and is based on Public Health England data published on November 12 on the Government’s coronavirus dashboard.

Here is the top 20 in the list

From left to right, it reads: name of local authority; rate of new cases in the seven days to November 8; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to November 8; rate of new cases in the seven days to November 1; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to November 1.

1. Oldham 741.0 (1757), 740.6 (1756)
2. Hull 727.2 (1889), 473.5 (1230)
3. Blackburn with Darwen 721.5 (1080), 694.1 (1039)
4. North East Lincolnshire 636.1 (1015), 490.7 (783)
5. Rochdale 605.2 (1346), 588.1 (1308)
6. Bradford 589.1 (3180), 547.3 (2954)
7. Wigan 576.6 (1895), 663.9 (2182)
8. Bury 572.8 (1094), 575.9 (1100)
9. Kirklees 567.1 (2494), 515.9 (2269)
10. Salford 531.6 (1376), 625.9 (1620)
11. Scarborough 518.6 (564), 188.5 (205)
12. Wakefield 511.9 (1783), 479.5 (1670)
13. Bolton 509.1 (1464), 558.2 (1605)
14. Bolsover 507.7 (409), 435.7 (351)
15. Dudley 493.8 (1588), 364.1 (1171)
16. South Staffordshire 486.5 (547), 404.7 (455)
17. Preston 480.0 (687), 466.7 (668)
18. Gateshead 472.1 (954), 355.3 (718)
19. Bristol 471.1 (2183), 383.5 (1777)
20. Derby 471.0 (1212), 387.5 (997)

Here's how Herefordshire compares to nearby areas

109. Worcester 262.8 (266), 176.8 (179)

128. Shropshire 234.0 (756), 181.3 (586)

201. Gloucester 152.6 (197), 143.3 (185)

239. Cheltenham 130.7 (152), 92.0 (107)

252. Malvern Hills 123.3 (97), 114.4 (90)

263. Herefordshire 115.1 (222), 79.4 (153)

274. Forest of Dean 108.3 (94), 80.7 (70)