Three areas of Gloucestershire are among the five regions of the UK that have seen Covid rates rise fastest over the last week.

The figures, for the seven days to October 14, are based on the number of people who have tested positive for Covid-19 in either a lab-reported or rapid lateral flow test, by specimen date.

The rate is expressed as the number of new cases per 100,000 people.

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Data for the most recent four days (October 15-18) has been excluded as it is incomplete and does not reflect the true number of cases.

Among the five biggest rises in Covid rates week-on-week, three of them are found in Gloucestershire.

  • Stroud has seen the second-biggest rise across the UK over the last week, with case rates jumping from 142.3 per 100,000 people to 607.1 - a rise of 464.8.
  • Cheltenham, with a rise of 462.7 to a weekly rate of 600.6 cases per 100,000 people, ranks third across the UK.
  • Tewkesbury came in fifth overall, with a jump of 395.3.

The other areas included in the top five rises in Covid rates are also found in the South West.

Bath and North East Somerset has seen the biggest jump in the country with 489.4, and Somerset West and Taunton saw rates climb by 454.3.

Government data published yesterday showed that 985 new cases were detected across the county in one day. Stroud reported the biggest rise of 238 followed by Cheltenham with 236.

Council bosses have confirmed that Covid rates are increasing throughout Gloucestershire due to previous testing errors.

In short, some 43,000 people in the south west may have received a false negative since September 8 due to mistakes made at a PCR test processing facility in Wolverhampton. This may well have made Gloucestershire's Covid picture look better than it actually was.

Of the 377 local areas in the UK, 327 (87%) have seen a week-on-week rise in rates and 50 (13%) have seen a fall.

Ipswich in Suffolk has the highest rate in the UK, with 1,162 new cases in the seven days to October 14 – the equivalent of 854.5 per 100,000 people.

This is up from 681.0 in the seven days to October 7.

Wellingborough in Northamptonshire has the second-highest rate, up from 738.0 to 817.9, with 655 new cases.

Torfaen in Wales has the third-highest rate, up from 687.5 to 814.1, with 772 new cases.

Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon has the highest rate in Northern Ireland (561.2) and Stirling has the highest rate in Scotland (493.2).

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