Coronavirus: Latest Covid-19 case numbers for every neighbourhood of Cambridgeshire show 47% spike in a week in Cambridge

There have been five coronavirus-related deaths in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough in a week, latest figures show.

Figures for the week to Wednesday, October 28 showed 372 cases and two deaths in Cambridgeshire, and a further 224 cases and three deaths in Peterborough.

With Prime Minister Boris Johnson expected to announce a second national lockdown , the local infection rate across the county’s districts continues to be a mixed picture.

The cities of Cambridge and Peterborough are worst affected, while some districts - notably East Cambridgeshire - are faring much better than the national average.

Below we look in detail at the figures for every neighbourhood and district in Cambridgeshire, before examining how the UK is faring at a national and international level.

Public health advice to control the spread of infection includes maintaining physical distancing, wearing face masks and washing your hands.

Cambridge

In the week of October 19-25, there were 242 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Cambridge and the seven-day infection rate was 193.9 cases per 100,000 people, which was slightly above the national average.

This compared to between 164 and 166 cases the previous week (the number is uncertain because Public Health England suppresses data in areas where there are fewer than three cases). This means infections have risen by about 47 per cent week on week.

In particular, cases have risen steeply in Central and West Cambridge, from 20 to 61 to 87 over consecutive weeks. Eddington and Castle recorded 39 cases, making it the second worst hit.

These areas feature significant student populations, but there is clear evidence that infections are spreading throughout the broader population.

In King’s Hedges, for example, there were 0-2 cases in the week of October 5-11, with three the following week but 12 in the week of October 18-25.

Every area of the city recorded at least five cases in the week.

The University of Cambridge, which is running a weekly testing regime, recorded 156 positive cases in the week of October 18-25, only two more than the previous week, suggesting the week-on-week rise has primarily come from within the wider population.

The university found 38 cases via its asymptomatic testing programme, which pools people into groups to find infections. It found 105 via testing of symptomatic individuals, one via other routes such as NHS testing and 12 via focused testing in response to a cluster of cases.

Cambridge has now recorded 1,144 confirmed Covid-19 cases, up 233 in the 10 days to October 29. The cumulative infection rate of 916.7 cases per 100,000 people means one in 109 people in the city has had a confirmed coronavirus infection since the outbreak began.

South Cambridgeshire

South Cambridgeshire had 114 confirmed cases in the week of October 19-25, with a weekly infection rate of 71.7 cases per 100,000 - below the national average.

No areas of the district had 10 or more cases in the week, although three areas had nine - Cambourne, .Meldreth, Melbourn and Great Chishill, and Milton, Fen Ditton and Quy.

The total number of confirmed cases in South Cambridgeshire stood at 916 on October 28.

East Cambridgeshire

There were 39 confirmed cases in the week of October 19-25 in East Cambridgeshire, where the weekly infection rate of 43.4 cases per 100,000 is the lowest in the county and significantly lower than the national average.

However, indicating that there is no room for complacency, there were 10 cases recorded in the week in Dullingham and Cheveley - an area that has previously never had a cluster of more than two confirmed cases since the pandemic began.

There have been 390 confirmed cases in the district since the pandemic began.

Huntingdonshire

There were 94 cases in the week to October 25 in Huntingdonshire, where the weekly infection rate of 52.8 per 100,000 was significantly lower than the national average

However, most areas had a handful of cases, and two areas - Little Paxton, Love's Farm and Great Gransden, and Somersham, Riptons and Raveleys - recorded nine.

The total number of confirmed infections in Huntingdonshire since the pandemic began had reached 1,476 by October 29.

Fenland

There were 89 cases in Fenland in the week of October 19-25, up 39 on the previous week.

The weekly infection rate of 87.4 remains below average for the country.

Whittlesey recorded a major spike in cases in the week, with 28 confirmed infections - double the number from the previous week.

By October 29, there had been 801 confirmed cases in the district since the pandemic began.

Peterborough

Peterborough continues to record significant numbers of cases, with 263 in the week of October 19-25, up 69 week on week, although the infection rate of 130 cases per 100,000 was below the national average.

Every area recorded clusters of infections - many with cases numbers into double figures - but the worst affected was Longthorpe and Netherton, with 30, and West Town and Woodston, with 21.

By October 28, there had been 2,691 confirmed infections in Peterborough since the pandemic began.

Cumulative infection rates per 100,000 across England

How the UK compares to other countries

The infection rate per million is higher in the UK currently than in the United States.

It also exceeds the rate in Germany, which has entered a new lockdown, but is not as high as in France, also living under a second lockdown.