Coronavirus cases in Lewes more than treble in a week

With Hastings and Rother, Kent, Surrey and Hampshire all in Tier 4 restrictions, Lewes is surrounded by counties with higher rates of infection.

Latest figures show Lewes recorded 246 positive cases per 100,000 for the week of December 11-17.

That is up from a rate of 75.5 for the previous week – an increase of 226 per cent.

For context, the average area in England reported a coronavirus infection rate of 211 over that period.

Neighbouring Hastings and Rother, which are both in Tier 4, recorded infection rates of 878.5 and 594.3 respectively.

Brighton and Hove’s rate also increased significantly, rising by 154 per cent.

For the week December 11-17, 206.3 cases were recorded in the city per 100,000 people.

Since the start of the pandemic, 67,616 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus in the UK.

A total of 2,073,511 positive cases have been recorded.

Yesterday (December 21), it was revealed around 500,000 people in the UK have received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine over the last two weeks.