Hospitals in mid and south Essex have seen a small rise in coronavirus patients in the past week.

NHS England data shows the number of people being treated in hospital for Covid-19 by 8am on Tuesday, October 12 stood at 66 - up from 52 on the same day the previous week.

But the number of beds at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust occupied by people who tested positive for Covid-19 decreased by 29% in the last four weeks – 28 days ago, there were 93.

Across England there were 5,213 people in hospital with Covid as of October 12, with 657 of them in mechanical ventilation beds.

The number of Covid-19 patients hospitalised nationally has decreased by 18% in the last four weeks, while the number on mechanical ventilators has decreased by 26%.

The figures also show that 66 new Covid patients were admitted to hospital in Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust in the week to October 10.

This was up from 48 in the previous seven days.

It comes as infection rates in south Essex continue to rise – a trend seen throughout the country.

Week-on-week data shows:

Southend saw the number of new cases rise to 564 this week – up from 484 the week before.

It means the infection rate in the borough is 308.6 cases per 100,000 people.

In Basildon, there were 547 new case recorded in the latest weekly period – up from 454 the seven days before.

The infection rate in Basildon is now 291.6.

Castle Point saw cases increase by 64 to 278 and now has an infection rate of 307.1.

Rochford has the highest infection rate in south Essex with 384.1 cases per 100,000 people.

The district saw 337 new cases recorded in the latest weekly period – up from 245 seven days before.

Thurrock has seen the biggest week-on-week rise in Covid cases in the last seven days.

There were 564 new infections, up from 426. The infection rate stands at 321.3.

The map below shows how many Covid infections have been recorded in each area of England since the pandemic began

It comes as around one in 60 people in private households in England had Covid-19 in the week to October 9, up from one in 70 the previous week, according to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics.

One in 60 is the equivalent of about 890,000 people.

At the peak of the second wave in early January, around one in 50 were estimated to have coronavirus.