Across most of the North East Covid-19 rates continue to fall by between 20 and 30% compared to a week earlier - but this is far from the case in every area as places like Wallsend and Hebburn see a surge of positive tests.
According to the Government's latest data, close to one in five local areas in our region saw a rise in cases in the week to April 24. This suggests that while the trend is generally negative and the "R number" has fallen to between 0.7 and 0.9 - meaning the virus's prevalence is falling - hundreds of people are still falling ill due to it throughout our communities.
This comes as the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics suggest around one in 25 people are thought to have had Covid-19. That's around 2.4 million people. But it is a fall week-on-week.
The North East is also the area which, according to the ONS, still has the highest rate of positivity - with 6.1% of people likely to have had the virus over the week. So though case rates are falling - and the data for confirmed cases has fallen sharply throughout April - the virus is still having a huge impact.
The worst hit parts of the North East were Wallsend West - which has seen the number of cases jump from 14 to 42 within a week, while areas like Sunderland Central and Deptford saw a 128.6% rise, albeit from a much lower starting point (from just seven to 16 cases).
In County Durham , the case rate was down to 238.6 after 1,272 confirmed cases over the week to April 24. That's a reduction of 28.3% . In Gateshead the data shows a drop to back to 256.5 positive cases per 100,000 people. That's after 518 new cases over the week.
In Newcastle - at 212.5 - the case rate is now as low as it's been in almost a year, since June 2021. There were 652 reported cases over the week. North Tyneside 's rate was 272.4 after 569 new cases - that's a 23.3% fall week-on-week.
Northumberland, as of April 24, has a rate of 249.8 after 809 reported cases. That equates to a 30.1% drop. In South Tyneside the fall in cases compared to last week was slightly lower - 21% - but the rate has still fallen to just 233.6. And in Sunderland, after 630 cases over a week, the case rate was down 24.9% to 226.7 .
The ten areas with the highest Covid-19 rates in the North East as of the week to April 24 were:
Wallsend West - 601.5 cases per 100,000, 42 new cases
Hebburn West - 532.7 cases per 100,000, 34 new cases
Preston Billy Mill - 448.8 cases per 100,000, 26 new cases
Cramlington Town & Beaconhill - 419.7 cases per 100,000, 37 new cases
Ponteland - 418.6 cases per 100,000, 29 new cases
Holystone & Benton - 414.7 cases per 100,000, 39 new cases
Tynemouth West - 412.2 cases per 100,000, 24 new cases
Ryton - 404 cases per 100,000, 34 new cases
Langley Park & Satley - 403.5 cases per 100,000, 27 new cases
Easington & Hawthorn - 397.9 cases per 100,000, 23 new cases
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