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Covid-19 regional rates drop to pre-New Year levels in most regions

All regions are continuing to show a week-on-week drop in rates.

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A man wearing a facemask in the Barbican Estate in London (Victoria Jones/PA)

Covid-19 case rates in most regions of England are at their lowest level since before the start of 2021, latest figures show.

In London, the rolling seven-day rate as of January 20 stood at 557.8 cases per 100,000 people – down from 770.6 a week earlier, and the lowest since the seven days to December 16.

Eastern England is currently recording a seven-day rate of 437.9, down from 561.4 and the lowest since December 17.

South-east and south-west England are also at the lowest level since before New Year’s Day.

HEALTH Coronavirus Regions
(PA graphic)

The rate in the south east is currently 409.9, down week-on-week from 535.7 and the lowest since December 18, while in the south west the rate is 281.1, down from 351.1 and the lowest since December 30.

The figures, which have been calculated by the PA news agency using Public Health England data, suggest the England-wide lockdown introduced on January 5 is having an impact.

The picture is more mixed across the Midlands and northern England, however.

Rates are down in every region, but not every area is quite back to levels last seen at the end of 2020.

HEALTH Coronavirus Regions
(PA graphic)

North-west England, for example, is currently recording a rate of 441.3 cases per 100,000, down from 557.3 for the previous week and the lowest since January 1.

The West Midlands is currently at 524.8, down from 566.6 – again, the lowest since January 1.

Rates in these regions did not rise quite as sharply during the second half of December as in southern and eastern England.

This is why the week-on-week fall in rates is not quite as steep.

The other three regions have seen rates drop back to levels at the end of 2020, though there is evidence the decrease might be levelling off.

In the East Midlands the rate is currently 386.5, down a little from 410.2 one week earlier, while north-east England has seen its rate fall slightly from 343.7 to 317.5.

Yorkshire & the Humber continues to record the lowest rate of any region: 241.2, down from 286.1.

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