The number of new coronavirus cases doubled to total almost 2,000 in Brighton and Hove just one week, according to Public Health England (PHE).
The figure is the highest since the start of the pandemic although the number of tests has increased significantly since the peak of the first wave last year.
PHE said that there were 1,827 new confirmed cases in the seven days to Friday 1 January, up from 914 in the previous seven-day period, to Friday 25 December.
The rate per 100,000 people went up from 314.2 to 628.1 although several parts of Sussex recorded a higher rate.
And about 100 council areas out of 315 in England also continued to record a higher rate of new cases of covid-19.
The figures were published yesterday (Tuesday 5 January) as the country prepared for another national lockdown.
The number of deaths appears to have fallen though at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Royal Sussex County Hospital, in Brighton, and the Princess Royal Hospital, in Haywards Heath.
In the past week the hospital trust recorded five deaths compared with 18 in the previous seven-day period.
The number of deaths totalled 49 last month and the toll since the start of the pandemic has reached 242.
Nationally, the government reported 60,916 positive test results in the most recent 24-hour period and 391,615 in the past seven days.
Some 830 people died within 28 days of testing positive for the virus in the most recent 24-hour period and 4,738 in the past seven days.
Hospital admissions continue to rise and more of the Royal Sussex has been given over to treating covid patients while tests nationally are running at almost three million a week.
