Areas of Northumberland and North Tyneside remain Covid-19 blackspots even as case rates continue to fall around our region.
The UK-wide weekly rate of Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people is now down to 217.8 - that's the lowest it has been since June 2021. However, places like Wallsend, Longhoughton and Alnmouth still have case rates above 500.
The steady falls in Covid-19 prevalence seen in the past month since free mass Covid-19 testing ended have begun to slow - and in some areas of the North East, cases have jumped in recent days. This comes as the latest hospitalisation figures show how the number of Covid-19 positive people in hospitals in our region has fallen too.
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Hospitalisations are a "lagging indicator", meaning they begin to fall in the weeks following a fall in cases in the community. Now, across the North East and Yorkshire on April 27 there were 1,880 people in hospital with the virus. That's fallen by more than 500 patients in just nine days.
The steady fall in Covid-19 cases around the country broadly continues - but the signs are that cases are beginning to stabilise and many areas are seeing jumps again for the first this month. On Thursday, the Government released its surveillance data and analysis of the testing that is still taking place for the week to April 24. It suggested that cases of both Covid-19 and the flu had decreased over that week. Covid-19 related hospitalisations and deaths also decreased, week-on-week.
However, there were still hundreds of new positive tests reported in our region - and there are likely to be many more with the virus but unable to confirm this through testing. The North East area to see the most new cases in the week to April 22 was Amble, Shilbottle and Swarland - which saw 42 new cases for a rate of 330.4 per 100,000. Even so, the area has seen its rate drop over the last three days.
In County Durham , the case rate was down to 262.6 after 1,400 confirmed cases over the week to April 22. That's a reduction of 25.8% and each day since April 6 has seen a fall of near to 30%. But in Gateshead case rates have jumped two days in a row. In the same week the rate there was up to 280.8 after 567 cases reported in the borough.
In Newcastle the case rate fell 24.6% to 231.1 positive tests per 100,000 people - there were 709 reported cases over the week. North Tyneside 's rate was 290.1 after 606 new cases - that's a 21.6% fall week-on-week.
Northumberland, as of April 22, has a rate of 269.6 after 874 reported cases. That equates to a 29.1% drop and is the lowest rate the county has seen since August last year. But in South Tyneside the fall in cases has slowed dramatically - there was a rate of 256.1 after 387 cases over the week in question. But it is still down 15.1% on last week. In Sunderland, after 661 cases over a week, there was a rate of 237.9 cases per 100,000 people. That's down 28.6% compared to the same day a week earlier.
The ten areas with the highest Covid-19 rates in the North East as of April 22 were:
Wallsend West - 544.3 cases per 100,000, 38 new cases
Longhoughton & Alnmouth - 520.2 cases per 100,000, 35 new cases
Hebburn West - 480.7 cases per 100,000, 32 new cases
Herrington & Doxford -470 cases per 100,000, 30 new cases
Easington & Hawthorn - 467.1 cases per 100,000, 27 new cases
Whiteleas - 456.8 cases per 100,000, 31 new cases
Newton Aycliffe North - 451.8 cases per 100,000, 39 new cases
Ryton - 451.5 cases per 100,000, 38 new cases
Windy Nook & Whitehills - 445.6 cases per 100,000, 30 new cases
Preston Billy Mill - 431.6 cases per 100,000, 25 new cases
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