City surrounded by some of the worst virus rates in the country

BRISTOL is surrounded by areas with some of the worst Covid-19 rates in the country, according to official government data.

A map on the government’s website shows that Bristol is currently in the ‘epicentre of the virus’ – but it has better rates than the areas around it.

Bristol currently has a case rate of 748.9.

But the three areas which border it – North Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset, and South Gloucestershire – all have case rates of more than 800 per 100,000 people.

And across the south west, there are multiple areas in the highest case rate bracket.

Among them are areas such as Cheltenham, with a case rate of 1,276.3, and Swindon, which has a case rate of 1,112.3.

The latest coronavirus figures for Bristol also shows that cases are continuing to rise. There were 1,158 further cases of coronavirus confirmed across the Bristol region in the last 24 hours to yesterday – as well as four further deaths.

According to the latest government data, one death each was recorded in Bristol and North Somerset, and two in South Gloucestershire, taking the total number of coronavirus-related deaths there to 349 since the start of the pandemic.

The City of Bristol recorded the biggest rise in new Covid-19 cases with 401 confirmed since Tuesday.

Bath and North East Somerset recorded the second most with 276 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours. There were 261 new cases in South Gloucestershire and 220 in North Somerset.

A total of 49,794,120 first doses of Covid-19 vaccine had been delivered in the UK as of Tuesday, a rise of 41,083 on the previous day, Government figures show.

Some 45,605,922 second doses have now been delivered, an increase of 23,031.

A combined total of 6,706,468 booster and third doses have also been delivered, a day-on-day rise of 264,468.

Separate totals for booster and third doses are not available.

The Government said a further 207 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Wednesday, bringing the UK total to 140,041.

Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have now been 165,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

As of 9am yesterday, there had been a further 43,941 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases in the UK, the Government said.