SEVERAL neighbourhoods in Southend have seen a surge in Covid cases in the past week.

It comes despite the borough’s overall rate of infection remaining stead, with just two extra week-on-week cases recorded in the seven days to January 29.

There were 1,550 new case reported in the latest weekly period, meaning the infection rate remains at 848 cases per 100,000 people.

West Shoebury saw the biggest drop in new cases (36 per cent) as it recorded 52 new infections – down 30 from the week before.

But were several other neighbourhoods in the borough which actually saw a big rise in infections.

They were:

Westborough

145 new cases

Up 48 (50 per cent)

Belfairs

76 new cases

Up 22 (40 per cent)

Southchurch

97 new cases

Up 19 (20 per cent)

Other areas such as Kursaal, St Lukes, Prittlewell, Victoria and Southend Central are still recording more than 100 new cases a week, despite seeing an overall drop in the last seven days.

It comes as NHS England data shows the number of patients in south and mid Essex hospitals with coronavirus has dropped again.

As of 8am on February 1, there were 116 people across Southend, Basildon and Broomfield hospitals with the virus - down from 142 from the same time a week before.

The number of beds at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust occupied by people who tested positive for Covid-19 decreased by 55% in the last four weeks – 28 days ago, there were 259.

Across England there were 12,896 people in hospital with Covid as of February 1, with 449 of them in mechanical ventilation beds.

The number of Covid-19 patients hospitalised nationally decreased by 14% in the last four weeks, as has the number on mechanical ventilators, which has decreased by 44%.

The figures also show that 122 new Covid patients were admitted to hospital in Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust in the week to January 30. This was down from 152 in the previous seven days.