9 Covid hotspots in our county as cases keep rising

PARTS of Derbyshire are seeing their highest numbers of Covid infections in months, according to latest figures.

The number of confirmed cases has risen across the county after children and students returned for the new academic year.

According to Government data, more than 1,000 people a week are testing positive for the disease in Derby, while in wider Derbyshire this figure is more than triple that.

Belper Far Laund, in Amber Valley, has the highest rate of infections, with more than one in 100 people who live there catching the disease in the week up to September 29.

Meanwhile, Hilton and Etwall in South Derbyshire saw the greatest number of new infections, with 112 people testing positive during the same time period.

Multiple places saw more than 50 new cases, including Chaddesden Park in Derby, Tibshelf, Newton and Hardwick Park in Bolsover and Melbourne,

Ticknall and Hartshorne in South Derbyshire.

New Zealand, in Derby, has the lowest infection rate in the county, with just five new cases in the week up to September 29, giving it a case of 79.2 per 100,000 people.

Nationwide, the number of infections has dropped slightly in the last seven days up to October 4, with 239,122 people testing positive for the disease. Deaths within 28 days of a positive test have also dropped by 18.6 per cent, while the number of patients admitted to hospital in the seven days up to September 28 also fell by 10.2 per cent.

Experts say the number of deaths and hospitalisations is much lower than it would have been otherwise, due to the extensive uptake of vaccinations for the disease, with one health official saying 70 per cent of people in hospital with the disease had not been jabbed.

Latest vaccination figures show that 84 per cent of people in Derbyshire have had both doses of the vaccine, compared to 71.5 per cent of people in Derby.