As free Covid testing came to end on Friday, cases are still rising across the North East as the BA.2 Omicron variant continues to drive infection.
While nationally Covid-19 cases are dropping, all seven North East local authorities have seen a rise in cases over the past seven days. The worst-hit area is North Tyneside which is the only place to have a case rate that exceeds 1,000. Northumberland is also on the verge of crossing the 1,000 threshold as cases continue to skyrocket across the region.
It comes as health experts continue to warn that the virus has "not gone away". Dr Lucia Pareja-Cebrian from the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust warned this week: "Covid hasn't really gone away. We know prevalence in the community has gone up. But we know that the severity of illness in patients who are admitted to hospital is much less than what we saw in previous waves."
Read more: Majority of North East sees Covid rates rise as public warned virus 'has not gone away'
In North Tyneside , the case rate is now up to 1,027.4. That's a 26.5% rise week-on-week and accounts for 2,146 cases over the week. Northumberland also has a rate substantially above that seen nationally - it's 959.2 per 100,000 and there were 3,106 cases in total
Sharp rises in Gateshead and Sunderland also see case rates worth worrying about. In Gateshead , the rate is up to 820.5. There were a total of 1,657 cases which is an increase of 26.5%. In Sunderland , there were 820.2 cases per 100,000 and 2,279 total cases.
In Newcastle , the case rate is up to 768.5, an 18.9% rise. That's equivalent to 2,358 cases over the week in question.
Meanwhile, County Durham has yet again seen more than 4,245 cases over seven days - adjusted for the size of the county's population that equals a rate of 796.2.
In South Tyneside - which still has the lowest rate in the region - there were 756.9 cases per 100,000 people. That's equivalent to 1,144 people testing positive and a rise of 40%.
The ten areas in the North East with the highest rates as of March 27 were:
Low Fell West- 1531.1 cases per 100,000 and 96 new cases
Darras Hall, Stamfordham & Heddon- 1477.5 cases per 100,000 and 116 new cases
Low Fell East- 1328.3 cases per 100,000 and 98 new cases
Kingston Park & Dinnington- 1323.4 cases per 100,000 and 183 new cases
Holystone & Benton- 1297.3 cases per 100,000 and 122 new cases
Longhoughton & Alnmouth- 1293.1 cases per 100,000 and 87 new cases
Whitley Sands- 1275.3 cases per 100,000 and 77 new cases
Morpeth South & West- 1266.4 cases per 100,000 and 85 new cases
South Gosforth- 1235.2 cases per 100,000 and 118 new cases
Cramlington Town & Beaconhill- 1225 cases per 100,000 and 108 new cases
