Covid-19 in the UK: How many coronavirus cases are there in your area?
By The Visual and Data Journalism Team
BBC News
- Published
There have been more than 4.3 million confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK and over 126,000 people have died, government figures show.
However, these figures include only people who have died within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus.
More than 31 million people in the UK have now had their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
Find out how the pandemic has affected your area and how it compares with the national average:
Cases have declined
The average number of new daily cases in the UK has fallen substantially since the start of the year, but the rate of decline has slowed in recent weeks.
A further 2,762 confirmed cases in the UK were announced by the government on Sunday. This compares with 4,654 new cases reported a week ago.
Some cases data was delayed over the Easter weekend and no figures were released on Sunday for Northern Ireland or Wales. Reporting schedules will return to normal next week.
Last month infection levels in secondary school-age children in England increased slightly after they returned to school. But the Office for National Statistics (ONS) says this trend does not appear to have continued.
According to the ONS, which tests a random sample of adults and children in the community, infections have "decreased" in England and Scotland, are "uncertain" in Wales and are possibly increasing in Northern Ireland.
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.
The orange areas on the map below show the places currently seeing the highest number of cases per 100,000 people.
The nations of the UK are moving to the next stages of easing restrictions on everyday life.
On Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed that England will move to 'step two' of easing restrictions from 12 April, with non-essential shops, gyms and hairdressers allowed to re-open, along with outdoor spaces at pubs and restaurants.
Hairdressers, homeware shops and garden centres re-opened in Scotland on Monday, after the "stay at home" rule became "stay local" last Friday.
In Wales, which moved to "stay local" advice on 13 March, four people from two different households can meet up outdoors to socialise.
In Northern Ireland, two households will be able to meet outdoors from 12 April.
Vaccine rollout continues
More than 31.5 million people - or more than half of all UK adults - have now received a first dose of a vaccine and over 5.4 million people have had a second.
Saturday 20 March saw the highest number of vaccinations given in a single day - more than 844,000.
The government has often described vaccine supplies as "lumpy" and the NHS has warned that there will be a "significant reduction in weekly supply" of vaccines in April.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the UK is "building up long-term UK manufacturing capabilities" for vaccines, with Novavax set to produce a jab in the North East.
And the first Moderna jabs are due to arrive in the UK later this month.
In total, nearly 27 million people in England have had one vaccine dose.
In Scotland, more than 2.5 million people have had their first dose, while the figure is nearly 1.5 million in Wales and almost 780,000 in Northern Ireland.
People aged 50 and over are now being offered the vaccine and the government says it is on course to meet its target of offering a vaccine to everyone in the top nine priority groups by 15 April.
After that, the rest of the adult population will be vaccinated, with people prioritised by age.
All adults in the UK are expected to be offered their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine by the end of July.
Daily deaths falling
A further 26 deaths across the UK within 28 days of a positive test were reported on Sunday. Of these deaths, 16 were in England, eight in Wales and two in Northern Ireland. No deaths were reported in Scotland.
Rules were amended last 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 nearly 112,000.
Situation improving in hospitals
The most recent government figures show 3,536 people with coronavirus in hospital in the UK.
Numbers in mid-January reached almost double the highest point of the peak last spring, but have been falling since then.
London, the South East and the Midlands saw the highest numbers in the winter peak, but patient numbers have fallen in all UK nations and regions in recent months.
But everywhere saw more patients in hospital in the winter surge than during the first wave last spring.
Death toll could be higher
When looking at the overall death toll from coronavirus, official figures count deaths in three different ways, each giving a slightly different number.
First, government figures count people who died within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus - and that total is now nearing 127,000.
Second, ONS figures include all deaths where coronavirus was mentioned on the death certificate, even if the person had not been tested for the virus. This figure is more than 149,000 deaths, to 19 March.
The third measure counts all deaths over and above the usual number at the time of year - that figure was nearly 122,000 by 19 March.
In total, there were 11,666 deaths registered in the week to 19 March, which is about 8% below the average seen in the five years 2015 to 2019.
Of that figure, 1,043 deaths were related to coronavirus - down from 1,637 the previous week.
There have now been more deaths involving Covid than "excess" deaths, which means non-Covid deaths must be below usual levels.
This could be because of a milder flu season - resulting from less travel and more social distancing - and because some people who might have died for other reasons had there been no pandemic, died of Covid.
What is the R number?
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 most recent estimate for the R number across the whole of the UK was 0.7 to 0.9 - but there was no updated figure released this week.
The latest estimate for England is 0.8 to 1.0. In Scotland it's currently 0.8 to 1.0, in Wales it is 0.7 to 0.9 and in Northern Ireland it is 0.9 to 1.05.
The government has said in the past that the R number is one of the most important factors in making policy decisions.