Covid-19 in the UK: How many coronavirus cases are there in your area?

There have been more than three million confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK and nearly 85,000 people have died, government figures show.

However, these figures include only people who have died within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus and other measures suggest the number of deaths is higher.

Find out how the pandemic has affected your area and how it compares with the national average:

If you can't see the look-up click here.

The number of daily cases has been at record levels recently, driven by a new variant of the virus thought to be much more easily transmissible than other strains.

A further 47,525 confirmed cases were announced by the government on Wednesday.

The chief medical officer for England Chris Whitty says the UK faces the "most dangerous time" of the pandemic in the weeks before vaccine rollout has an impact.

Around one in 50 people in England are estimated to have the virus, according to the latest estimate from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

It is thought the infection rate was much higher than was evident from the reported number of cases during the first peak in spring last year. Testing capacity was too limited to detect the true number of daily cases.

Although the new variant is now spreading more rapidly than the original version, it is not believed to be more deadly.

Cases have risen steeply across the UK in recent weeks, but there are now signs that the rate of infection has slowed in some regions.

The darker orange and red areas on the map below show the areas currently seeing the highest number of cases per 100,000 people.

The average number of daily deaths began to rise again in September, following the first peak in spring.

On Wednesday, the government announced a further 1,564 deaths - the highest daily figure since the start of the pandemic.

Of those, 1,400 were in England, 79 in Scotland, 66 in Wales and 19 in Northern Ireland.

Dr Yvonne Doyle, Public Health England's medical director, said the record daily figure meant that there had now been more deaths in the second wave of the pandemic than the first.

Rules were amended over the summer to include deaths in the coronavirus total only if they occurred within 28 days of a positive test. Previously in England, all deaths after a positive test were included.

England has seen the majority of UK deaths from Covid-19. Using the 28-day cut-off, there have been more than 74,000.

There are now more than 36,000 people with coronavirus in hospital - around 50% more than at the peak of the virus in spring.

NHS England medical director Stephen Powis says hospitals are under "significant and sustained pressure".

London, the South East, the East of England and Midlands have seen the biggest increases in recent weeks.

But all nations and regions now have more patients in hospital than during the first wave in spring.

It is hoped the rollout of vaccines to the most vulnerable in the UK will help reduce the number of people requiring hospital treatment.

Latest government figures show 2.6 million people have now received a first dose, and more than 400,000 a second.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock says everyone in the UK's top four priority groups should have been offered a first dose by mid-February.

Lockdowns are in place across the UK, with schools closed to most pupils.

People have been told to stay at home, other than for limited purposes such as essential food shopping, medical appointments and work which cannot be performed in the home.

The lockdown in England will be reviewed on 15 February.

In Wales, the lockdown is expected to last until the end of January at least, while Northern Ireland's restrictions are due to continue into February.

On Wednesday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced that restrictions in Scotland were to be tightened from Saturday.

When looking at the overall death toll from coronavirus, official figures count deaths in three different ways.

Government figures count people who died within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus.

But there are two other measures.

The first includes all deaths where coronavirus was mentioned on the death certificate, even if the person had not been tested for the virus. The most recent figures suggest there had been more than 89,000 deaths by 1 January.

The second measure counts all deaths over and above the usual number at the time of year - that figure was more than 88,000 by the same date.

The pandemic has caused excess deaths to rise to their highest level since World War Two, according to the ONS.

There were close to 697,000 deaths in the UK in 2020 - nearly 85,000 more than would be expected based on the average in the previous five years.

The "R number" is the average number of people an infected person will pass the disease on to.

If R is below one, then the number of people contracting the disease will fall; if it is above one, the number will grow.

The government's current estimate for the R number across the whole of the UK is 1.1 to 1.4.

The estimate for England is 1.1 to 1.4, Scotland is 0.9 to 1.3, Wales is 1.0 to 1.3 and in Northern Ireland it is 1.5 to 1.9.

The government has said in the past that the R number is one of the most important factors in making policy decisions.