The areas in the North East where covid infection rates increased in week leading up to Christmas

Across the region, the latest weekly cases numbers show the number of infections rose in the seven days to December 25 in Sunderland, Hartlepool, Gateshead, County Durham, Darlington, Northumberland and North Tyneside.

The case rate declined week-on-week in South Tyneside, Middlesbrough, Stockton, Newcastle and Redcar and Cleveland.

The rate is expressed as the number of new cases per 100,000 people.

Data for the most recent four days, December 26-29, has been excluded as it is incomplete and does not reflect the true number of cases.

Of the 315 local areas in England, 238 (76%) have seen a rise in case rates, 75 (24%) have seen a fall, and two are unchanged.

See our interactive map below local area breakdown of case rates.

Brentwood in Essex continues to have the highest rate in England, with 969 new cases recorded in the seven days to December 25 – the equivalent of 1,258.1 cases per 100,000 people.

The areas recording the biggest week-on-week jumps are Hertsmere (up from 598.6 to 864.5, with 907 new cases); Watford (up from 505.3 to 770.4, with 744 new cases); and Three Rivers in Hertfordshire (up from 506.8 to 769.4, with 718 new cases).

Here is the North East list in full. From left to right, it reads: name of local authority; the tier of Covid-19 restrictions in which the local authority is currently placed; rate and number (in brackets) of new cases in the seven days to December 25; rate and number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to December 18.

Hartlepool, Tier 3, 365.1, (342), 353.4, (331)

Gateshead, Tier 3, 245.5, (496), 133.6, (270)

County Durham, Tier 3, 245.4, (1301), 191.1, (1013)

Darlington, Tier 3, 236.9, (253), 186.3, (199)

Middlesbrough, Tier 3, 220.6, (311), 227.0, (320)

South Tyneside, Tier 3, 210.6, (318), 292.1, (441)

Stockton-on-Tees, Tier 3, 201.7, (398), 240.2, (474)

Northumberland, Tier 3, 191.7, (618), 190.7, (615)

Sunderland, Tier 3, 182.2, (506), 167.8, (466)

North Tyneside, Tier 3, 155.8, (324), 134.2, (279)

Newcastle upon Tyne, Tier 3, 131.8, (399), 152.6, (462)

Redcar and Cleveland, Tier 3, 114.5, (157), 142.9, (196)

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