Several areas in Southend have seen a big drop in new Covid cases in the past week.

The latest data shows weekly cases were down 53 in the seven days ending August 23, when 398 infections were recorded.

It means Basildon is now recording the highest number of cases per week in south Essex after it saw 411 new infections in the same period.

The drop in Southend has been reflected in a number of neighbourhoods, where cases have more than or nearly halved in a week.

Those areas were:

Victoria

27 new cases

Down 25 (48%) on the week before

Southend Central

23 new cases

Down 22 (49%) on the week before

Chalkwell

7 new cases

Down 11 (61%) on the week before

Westborough

11 new cases

Down 19 (63%) on the week before

Blenheim Park

18 new cases

Down 19 (51%) on the week before

Belfairs

15 new cases

Down 15 (50%) on the week before

Despite signs infections are falling in some areas, others have seen a sharp rise in cases in the latest weekly period.

Cases are up nearly 70 per cent in Eastwood (32 cases) and West Leigh (22 cases), while they have doubled in Thorpe Bay (28 cases) and Shoebury (32 cases).

It comes as a new study has found people infected with the Delta variant of Covid-19 carry twice the risk of needing to be treated in hospital.

Researchers looked at more than 43,000 cases in England between March and May with their findings published in medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

Nearly three-quarters of coronavirus cases in the study were in people who were unvaccinated, with 1.8% coming in those who had received both inoculations.

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The study said around one in 50 patients were admitted to hospital within two weeks of their first positive test, or 2.3% of Delta cases and 2.2% of those with the Alpha variant, first identified in Kent.

Researchers then adjusted these figures to take into account other factors to determine the risk of being admitted to hospital was more than doubled with the Delta variant compared with the Alpha variant.

These included someone’s age, ethnicity and vaccination status.

Dr Gavin Dabrera, one of the study’s lead authors and a consultant epidemiologist at the National Infection Service, Public Health England, said: “This study confirms previous findings that people infected with Delta are significantly more likely to require hospitalisation than those with Alpha, although most cases included in the analysis were unvaccinated.

“We already know that vaccination offers excellent protection against Delta and as this variant accounts for over 98% of Covid-19 cases in the UK, it is vital that those who have not received two doses of vaccine do so as soon as possible.

“It is still important that if you have Covid-19 symptoms, stay home and get a PCR test as soon as possible.”