Forest's new coronavirus cases continue to rise in latest weekly figures

THE weekly number of new coronavirus cases in the New Forest is continuing to accelerate, government figures show.

There were 72 new cases in the district as of Tuesday, compared with 55 the previous week – bringing the total to 733 so far this year. The week before that the increase was 35.

In the BCP Council area, which includes Christchurch, the number of cases registered so far has reached 1,934 – up by 505 on the previous week’s figure of 1,429.

The latest week of separate figures compiled by the Office for National Statistics, showed there have been two Covid-19 deaths in the conurbation, both in care homes, putting the total at 191.

There were no deaths reported in the New Forest, leaving the pandemic death toll in the district at 133.

The provisional figures from ONS relate to cause of death for fatalities up to 2nd October but which were registered up to 10th October.

On Tuesday the regional R-rates – the average number of people who get infected from someone with the coronavirus – were in the range of 1.2-1.4 for the south-east. In the south-west it was slightly higher at 1.3-1.6.

A rate of more than one indicates the pandemic is growing.