The number of new coronavirus infections has jumped 57 per cent in Brighton and Hove in a single week.
The figures recorded 2,935 positive tests in the seven days to Friday (17 December), up from 1,872 in the previous seven-day period.
The weekly rate – above the national average and the highest in Sussex – rose from 642 cases for every 100,000 people to 1,006.
Rates were reported to be falling among those aged up to 14 years old but soaring among 15 to 59-year-olds. There was a small rise among over-60s but much less significant.
The most recent NHS figures indicated that 29 people were in the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, with covid-19. Five or fewer were in intensive care or high dependency beds.
None of the children in the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital were being treated for the virus.
Fifty deaths have been recorded since the start of April with a mention of covid-19 on the death certificate.
This brought the total to 521 in Brighton and Hove since the start of the pandemic almost two years ago.
According to the UK coronavirus daily dashboard, after it was updated earlier today (Tuesday 21 December), another coronavirus-related death has been recorded locally.
The dashboard shows 422 covid-linked deaths in Brighton and Hove – up from 421 yesterday. It means there have been two deaths in the past week, which is the same as the previous week.
The figures also showed that more than two thirds of people in Brighton and Hove had received two doses of a coronavirus vaccine.
Some 198,950 people had received both jabs by yesterday – or 69 per cent of those aged 12 and over, a rate which remains below the national average.
The government has employed people to hand out leaflets urging people to have their jabs or a booster.
And next week it will drop……..