South Essex recorded 2,500 new coronavirus cases in the past week as infections continue to rise across the country.

Thurrock recorded the highest number of new cases (706), with the second highest total being in Basildon (696).

Southend recorded 608 cases in the latest weekly period ending October 14, while there were 323 in Castle Point.

Rochford has the highest infection rate per 100,000 people in south Essex after it recorded 421 new Covid cases.

The rate of 480.4 is higher than other boroughs and districts due to the smaller population.

All areas in south Essex saw Covid cases and infection rates rise in the past week – a trend being seen across Essex.

It is comes amid calls to accelerate the Covid booster programme is accelerated from a leading member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage).

Professor Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London, said there is a need to speed up boosters and the vaccination of teenagers, who he suggested should be given two doses of a jab to block infection and transmission.

It came as NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard said that, to “make the most of half-term”, the national booking service will be open for 12 to 15-year-olds to book their jabs at existing vaccination centres.

Covid-19 cases in the UK are at their highest level for almost three months, with the seven-day average standing at 44,145 cases per day.

Hospital admissions and deaths are also slowly creeping up, though vaccines are still working well overall to prevent severe disease.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Prof Ferguson, whose data was instrumental to the UK going into lockdown in March 2020, said the UK had higher Covid cases than other countries for a number of reasons.

“First of all, we have lower functional immunity in our population than most other Western European countries and that’s for two reasons,” he said.

“Partly, we were very successful in getting vaccination rolled out early and we know that gradually immunity wanes over time after you’ve had that second dose, so how early we were means we are a bit more vulnerable.

“Second, we relied more on the AstraZeneca vaccine and, while that protects very well against very severe outcomes of Covid, it protects slightly less well than Pfizer against infection and transmission, particularly in the face of the Delta variant.

“And finally, we just sit behind a few other countries, not dramatically, but we’re no longer in the top rank of European countries in terms of overall vaccination coverage, particularly vaccinating teenagers.

“Overall coverage rates here are considerably lower, for instance, than in Spain, Portugal and Denmark.”

Just over 67% of the UK population have received two doses of vaccine according to Government figures, compared with at least 75% in Denmark, 79% in Spain and 86% in Portugal.