Covid: Map reveals five hotspots as Omicron rises across UK
According to the latest data, an Omicron hotspot has the highest number of Covid cases in the UK.
South Northamptonshire was one of the first to be hit by the new variant and now has a case rate of 917 per 100,000.
London, where Omicron currently dominates, is home to the top five regions where cases are increasing weekly.
Southwark, Lambeth, Hackney, Islington and Lewisham all saw a spike in infections between December 4-11.
Last night, Britain’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty said the country is currently facing two waves of disease as Delta cases remain high while Omicron is also on pause.
Data from the Government’s coronavirus dashboard shows 377 local government areas in the UK, 226 (60%) have seen rates rise weekly.
However, this only includes cases up to December 11 because the data for the most recent dates is incomplete and does not reflect true case numbers.
It means the nearly 79,000 cases announced yesterday – a record for the entire pandemic – are not included.
The top ten regions with the highest rates of Covid in the UK
The list below reads, from left to right: local government names; national or regional local government; incidence rate in 7 days to 11/12; the number of new cases (in parentheses) recorded in the seven days to 11 December; new incidence in 7 days to 4/12; Number of new cases (in brackets) recorded in the seven days to December 4.
- South Northamptonshire, East Midlands, 917.4, (876), 889.1, (849)
- Reigate and Banstead, South East England, 890.5, (1329), 880.4, (1314)
- Plymouth, South West England, 857.6, (2254), 810.4, (2130)
- South Oxfordshire, South East England, 854.8, (1229), 795.6, (1144)
- Cambridge, East of England, 845.2, (1057), 644.5, (806)
- Elmbridge, South East England, 833.7, (1144), 808.2, (1109)
- Lambeth, London, 828.7, (2667), 495.0, (1593)
- Dartford, South East England, 825.9, (942), 586.6, (669)
- Newry Morne and Down, Northern Ireland, 820.2, (1490), 835.6, (1518)
- South Hams, South West England, 819.8, (721), 880.1, (774)
Mr. Whitty said more records will be broken in the coming days and it is very likely that cases will increase everywhere soon.
In South Northamptonshire, 26 cases of Omicron had been recorded as of 4 December, the highest number in the UK at the time.
Since then, the variant has spread at a rapid rate but the county’s director of public health, Lucy Wightman, told the BBC so far cases have been assigned to a ‘relatively young age.’
Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, Plymouth in Devon, South Oxfordshire and Cambridge make up the rest of the five places with the highest Covid rates.
Five UK regions with biggest weekly gains
- Southwark (up from 463.1 to 818.4)
- Lambeth (495.0 to 828.7)
- Hackney & City of London (405.0 to 733.5)
- Islington (405.5 to 720.6)
- Lewisham (497.2 to 767.7)
Devon County Council’s Director of Public Health, Steven Brown, has predicted that Omicron will hit Plymouth as soon as cases start to drop.
He said: ‘Over the last seven to eight days we’ve started to see a slightly downward trajectory, so the numbers are falling in Devon, however, I would advise a little caution.
‘We know that the Omicron variant is a lot easier to transmit than Delta, so I fully expect that as we head into Christmas we will see these cases start to increase again.’
Newry, Morne & Down have the highest rates in Northern Ireland; Anglesey Island has the highest rates in Wales; and Falkirk has the highest rates in Scotland.
The latest data has suggested that about a quarter of all cases are now Omicron – meaning about 20,000 of the 79,000 cases reported Wednesday could be caused by the new variant.
Speaking on Downing Street yesterday, Mr Whitty said: ‘The growing percentage of all our cases now is Omicron but that’s not because Delta is going away, but because Omicron is. is being built on that foundation.’
He showed a slide showing that Omicron was on the rise across the UK, but strongest in London.
He said from Christmas onward he expected to see most London hospital admissions to be caused by Omicron.
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https://metro.co.uk/2021/12/16/covid-map-reveals-five-hotspots-as-omicron-surges-across-uk-15780047/?ITO=metro-trending Covid: Map reveals five hotspots as Omicron rises across UK