NEW cases of coronavirus are rising sharply in Winchester, according to figures published this afternoon.

Another case has been reported at Winchester University, bringing to three the number of students affected.

In Winchester district in the last seven days the number of new cases is 68. In the previous seven days, ending on Wednesday September 30, the number was 15, an increase of more than 300 per cent.

The figure for new cases reported in the Hampshire County Council area has risen by 91 from 6,425 to 6,516 and in Winchester district from 613 to 624, an increase of 11 in the last 24 hours. The current infection rate in the city council district is 499.8 people in every 100,000.

No new deaths have been reported in Winchester district, Portsmouth or the Hampshire County Council area, but Southampton has seen one more.

Nationally, 70 deaths have been reported in the UK today, bringing the number of confirmed reported deaths to 42,515, according to the ONS website.

Today the rate of infection in Hampshire stands at 471.3 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average, 827.4. The Winchester rate is higher than the county but much lower than nationally.

There have been 544,275 cases of the virus across the UK. This is an increase of 14,162 in the last 24 hours, up on the 14,542 in the previous 24 hours.

The number of deaths in Hampshire hospitals is now 617. The figure for fatalities at the Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which includes the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester, is 162. For the other local county trusts, Portsmouth Hospital, 236; Solent, 2; Southern Health, 17; University Southampton, 200.

The R number in the south-east has stayed steady at between 1.1 and 1.4 meaning that on average every 10 people infected will infect between 11 and 14 other people.

The growth rate in the south east region is now between +2% and +6%, meaning the number of new infections is growing by up to 6% every day.

Regarding Covid patients admitted to hospital the numbers continue to rise steadily.

The figure is 21, up three, reported on Monday in the south-east region, that includes Hampshire. There are 129 with the condition in hospital yesterday, up 12 on Tuesday, with 12 on ventilators yesterday, up one, according to the ONS. The numbers are not broken down for hospitals in Hampshire.

Total number of deaths since the start of the pandemic of people who had had a positive test result for Covid-19 and died within 28 days of the first positive test, remains: Hampshire, 728, Portsmouth, 79 and Southampton, 123. The Winchester district figure, the city council area, is 77, a rate of 61.7 per 100,000 people.

Other coronavirus news:

Another student at Winchester University has contracted the virus.

Read more here