The rate of Covid-19 cases in Newcastle increased by more than 50% in the week to March 9, even as Health Secretary Sajid Javid said yesterday that a "modest increase" was "to be expected".
Each of the North East's other local authorities also saw increases in their case rates per 100,000 people - even as testing levels remain a fraction of what they were at the height of the Omicron wave.
This comes after Covid-19 measures such as social distancing were scrapped in late February, with the country's testing infrastructure to be dismantled from April 1.
