Weekly Covid update – nine deaths and 754 new infections in the Forest

NINE people with Covid-19 died in the New Forest, according to the latest weekly update, as infection numbers continued to climb.

The new fatalities, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), included five in hospital and three in care homes, and bring the death toll in the district to 170.

The seven-day number of new positive tests in the New Forest District Council area rose to 754 on Tuesday – up from 547 a week before.

It means the district has a case rate of 418.7 per 100,000 people. Last Tuesday the number was 303.7.

The provisional figures from the ONS related to instances where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate up to 1st January but which were registered up to 9th January.

There were 18 weekly Covid-19 deaths reported by the ONS in the BCP Council area, which includes Christchurch, bringing the total to 347. Thirteen of the new fatalities were in hospital and four in care homes.

Also on Tuesday the number of weekly new cases in the BCP conurbation continued to increase, rising from 1,986 to 3,348. That increased the case rate from 502.4 per 100,000 people to 846.9.

The infection figures are for the numbers of people with at least one lab-confirmed positive Covid-19 test result in the preceding seven-day period.