Covid-19 rates continue to fall around the North East, but that's not the case in every area - with 15 places in our region seeing a jump in cases over the past week amid warnings that the pandemic is not over.
Blakelaw in Newcastle saw a 68% rise in cases in the week to April 15, with 27 in total meaning that the area had a case rate of 437.2. This is considerably lower than at times during late March, but shows a real spike in cases. Other spikes were seen from Stanhope & Weardale to Blyth - while after 59 reported cases in a week High Heaton is also still seeing substantial amounts of Covid circulate.
Case rates in our area range from a low of 121.7 per 100,000 people in Elswick to 669.6 in Barnard Castle. The County Durham town has seen a spike just as the area's most senior police officer has explained why former Government adviser Dominic Cummings wasn't interviewed over his infamous lockdown trip there.
Broadly, the rates across the region - and the UK - have fallen sharply since free mass testing was scrapped at the beginning of April - but analysis from bodies including the Office for National Statistics has estimated that thousands are still picking up Covid-19.
The Government is continuing with its Living With Covid plan - and it is monitoring Covid-19 like other respiratory viruses. The surveillance data reported last week suggested the beginnings of a decline in infectivity - but medics around the region are still warning of Covid "having very much not gone away".
Around the UK, the official case rate is down to 311 per 100,000. after 208,648 cases reported over seven days, down 30.1%. Over the fortnight since free mass testing ended, that figure has more than halved - from 502,963 on March 31. The most recent Office for National Statistics estimate also indicated a slight decrease in virus cases, but still said around one in 14 people had likely had the virus in the week to April 9.
Testing does remain available in some NHS settings and, for example, in care homes. And based on the Government's figures, reports of Covid-19 cases have fallen throughout April.
County Durham 's case rate is down to 353.2, that's a reduction of 31.5% and reflects 1,883 cases over the week to April 15. In late March the county saw well over 4,000 cases verified over a week. In Gateshead the Covid-19 rate is also down yet again, to 344.1 per 100,000 people. That's a 33.6% week-on-week drop and reflects 695 cases.
In Newcastle the case rate is 306 positive tests per 100,000 people - that's a figure that would have been scarcely believable just three weeks ago. On March 29, the equivalent figure was 747.9. North Tyneside 's rate was 369.6 cases per 100,000 people. That's a 34.9% fall week-on-week.
Northumberland, as of March 15, has a case rate of below 400 for the first time since March 7. The rate is 380.5 after 1,232 reported cases. In South Tyneside , after just 455 cases reported in a week, the rate is down to 301.1. That's a 23.8% weekly reduction. After 926 cases over a week, there was a rate of 333.3 cases per 100,000 people in Sunderland . That's down 35.9%.
The ten areas with the highest Covid-19 rates in the North East as of April 14 were:
Barnard Castle - 669.6 cases per 100,000, 49 new cases
High Heaton - 615.4 cases per 100,000, 63 new cases
Holystone & Benton - 606.1 cases per 100,000, 57 new cases
North Hylton - 594.9 cases per 100,000, 49 new cases
Scotswood - 583.1 cases per 100,000, 31 new cases
Morpeth North & Pegswood - 563.1 cases per 100,000, 32 new cases
North Heaton - 561.1 cases per 100,000, 48 new cases
Forest Hall & Wes Moor - 537 cases per 100,000, 34 new cases
Chester-le-Street Town & Pelton Fell - 517.7 cases per 100,000, 50 new cases
Consett - 516.9 cases per 100,000, 58 new cases
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