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."
