SOUTH Essex has become one of the country’s coronavirus blackspots after it recorded more than 12,000 cases in a week.

The latest data shows Southend, Basildon and Thurrock all recorded more than 3,000 new infections in the seven days up to December 24.

Cases have increased by at least 40 per cent in all five boroughs and districts in south Essex in the past week, with both Thurrock and Southend seeing cases rise by more than 1,000.

Only Castle Point is not highlighted in black on the coronavirus cases map.

Here is the latest data for each part of south Essex for the latest weekly period up to December 24:

Basildon

New cases: 3,203 (up 965 from the week before)

Infection rate: 1,707 cases per 100,000 people

Worst hit area: Wickford South (195 cases)

Castle Point

New cases: 1,377 (up 443 from the week before)

Infection rate: 1,521 cases per 100,000 people

Worst hit area: Thundersley Glen (148 cases)

Rochford

New cases: 1,563 (up 591 from the week before)

Infection rate: 1,783 cases per 100,000 people

Worst hit area: Rochford Outer and Hawkwell East (178 cases)

Southend

New cases: 3,214 (up 1,137 from the week before)

Infection rate: 1,758 cases per 100,000 people

Worst hit area: Leigh (252 cases)

Thurrock

New cases: 3,759 (up 1,136 from the week before)

Infection rate: 2,141 cases per 100,000 people

Worst hit area: Tilbury (310 cases)

New analysis suggests three in ten local authority areas in the UK are recording their highest rate of new Covid-19 cases since mass testing began in summer 2020.

The areas include around three-quarters of authorities in north-west England, nearly two-thirds in the West Midlands and almost half in the East Midlands.

But no London boroughs are on the list, while only a tiny number of areas in the south-east and eastern England are now at record levels, suggesting the latest surge in cases may have peaked in these parts of the country.

In a similar survey in the week before Christmas, two-thirds of local authorities in London were reporting record case rates.

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In total, 112 of the 377 local authority areas in the UK (30%) are now recording their highest Covid-19 case rates since mass testing was rolled out across the country in May and June 2020.

Figures for case rates in the early months of the pandemic are not directly comparable, as only a small number of people were being tested, mostly in hospitals and care homes.

The contrast between the south and east corner of the UK, and the rest of the country, reflects the way the Omicron variant of Covid-19 has spread in recent weeks – in particular how London was the first area of the UK where Omicron became the dominant variant of the virus.

Of the 112 local authority areas with record case rates, only two are in south-east England (Cherwell and Worthing) and four are in eastern England (Bedford, King’s Lynn & West Norfolk, Mid Suffolk and South Norfolk).