BASILDON has overtaken Southend for recording the highest number of weekly Covid cases in south Essex.

There were 138 infections recorded in Basildon in the seven days ending June 26 – 112 more than the week before.

Southend meanwhile saw 132 cases recorded in the latest weekly period – 59 more than this time a week ago.

Overall infection rates in both boroughs are now around 70 cases per 100,000 people.

But there are areas within both which have localised rates much higher after seeing a surge in cases.

Echo:

Those neighbourhoods, and the infection rates, are:

  • Billericay Tye Common – 202.2
  • Billericay Central & Sunnymede – 173.2
  • Laindon East & Lee Chapel North – 165.2
  • Bursteads – 143.2
  • Chalkwell – 142.6
  • Belfairs – 114.3
  • Lee Chapel South & Kingswood – 110.3
  • West Leigh – 105.9

Echo: Latest Covid hotspots map for SouthendLatest Covid hotspots map for Southend

Other boroughs and districts in south Essex have also seen a rise in cases in the past week, though not to the same extent.

There were 50 new cases in Rochford – up from 36 the week before, and another 37 in Castle Point – up by 10.

Thurrock saw an extra nine cases in the past week (81) compared to the week before.

Despite cases rising across the country, Boris Johnson has pledged to reveal details of what the end of lockdown restrictions will look like in the coming days.

The Prime Minister said it is “ever clearer” that vaccines are reducing deaths, despite increasing levels of infections involving the Delta variant of coronavirus.

He said he has increasing confidence that he can go ahead with the final phase of his plans to end England’s lockdown on July 19 to “get back to life as close to it was before Covid”.

On Thursday, the Prime Minister told reporters: “I know how impatient people are to get back to total normality, as indeed am I.

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“I will be setting in the course of the next few days what Step 4 will look like exactly.

“But I think I’ve said it before, we’ll be wanting to go back to a world that is as close to the status quo, ante-Covid, as possible. Try to get back to life as close to it was before Covid.

“But there may be some things we have to do, extra precautions that we have to take, but I’ll be setting them out.”

Mr Johnson acknowledged there has been a “big” increase in positive cases in England after the latest Test and Trace figures put this at more than 79,000 in the week to June 23 – the highest figure since February.

But he insisted the nation is in the “final furlong” of ending restrictions.

He added: “It looks ever clearer… the speed of that vaccine rollout has broken that link between infection and mortality and that’s an amazing thing. That gives us the scope, we think on the 19th to go ahead, cautiously, irreversibly.”