How many coronavirus cases have there been in your area? Use our tool to find out
Enter your postcode in the tool below to find out how many people have been infected with coronavirus in your area
The coronavirus pandemic has reached most corners of the country, infecting more than 515,500 Britons and killing more than 42,300 people.
After a nationwide lockdown that lasted almost four months, many restrictions on daily life were lifted on July 4.
However, the Government's strategy has now turned to focus on local lockdowns, targeting areas which have suffered outbreaks. On June 30, Leicester became the first UK city to be plunged back into lockdown. Other areas including Greater Manchester, Birmingham, Bradford, Blackburn, Preston, Bolton and Caerphilly have had new restrictions introduced.
As of Monday September 14, social gatherings of more than six people are illegal in England. The new rules follow a surge in Covid-19 infections.
More than 23.5 million tests for Covid-19 have been processed in the UK and the Government’s plan to tackle the pandemic involves a number of gradual phases, but experts warn there could be a second wave on the horizon, particularly as infection rates have been rising across Europe.
Search for your area
Public Health England release a daily update on how many confirmed cases of coronavirus there are in each English local authority.
Type in your postcode in the tool below to find out how many cases there have been in your local area.
The region hit hardest by coronavirus, both in terms of absolute numbers and the per capita rate, is London, but cases and deaths have fallen steadily since the end of lockdown.
While they have lower total numbers, Wales and Scotland also have similarly high rates per million.
How are cases spreading in the UK?
The Government's top medical adviser has warned of a "long winter ahead of us" as cases continue to rise in the UK.
Speaking at a press conference on September 30, Prof Chris Whitty said there was a significant and general increase in Covid-19 cases, while Sir Patrick Vallance, No 10's chief science adviser, admitted that things were heading "in the wrong direction" nationally.
Prof Whitty said: "In most regions you are seeing a flat but gradually rising picture, but you can see a significant rise now in the North-East, West Yorkshire and parts of the West Midlands."
Among those aged 17 to 21, and other young adults, he said "the rates are going up quite rapidly" (see graphic below):
He also confirmed that hospitalisations were on the rise.
"Hospitalisations follow very much the pattern you would expect from the rates of infection," he said. "The NHS data show that the rates of hospitalisation are now climbing steadily.
"They're at a much lower level than at the beginning of April - I want to stress that quickly - but they are heading upward at a steady and rapid pace."
Prof Whitty said the spread of cases in the UK was "uniform across the country", unlike in other parts of Europe, such as Italy and Spain, which are enduring more concentrated epidemics.
He said: "It is possible that in this next stage of the epidemic here we will have a pattern more like that, which is more highly concentrated in certain areas than in others.
"We've got a long winter ahead of us and a lot could happen in that time. But if everyone follows the guidance we could contain it where it is at the moment."
How did coronavirus spread worldwide?
At the end of December, the Chinese authorities sent out a public alert warning that a “pneumonia of unknown cause” had been identified in Wuhan, central China.
Some 10 days later, on January 7, scientists announced that a new coronavirus was the source of the outbreak – quickly adding that it then did not appear to be spreading between humans.
At that point, fewer than 60 cases had been found. But now the virus, since given the name SARS-CoV-2, has spread to 185 countries, infecting more than 35.2 million people with the disease Covid-19 and killing more than one million.
This map, which updates automatically, shows where the disease is now, how many cases there have been and how many people have died:
