ANOTHER death from Covid-19 has been reported today in Portsmouth.

New cases of coronavirus continue to rise although not as fast as recently, in both Winchester and Hampshire.

The figure reported in the last 48 hours in the county council area has risen by 136 from 6,782 to 6,918 and in Winchester district by 22 from 655 to 677. The current infection rate in the city council district is 542.2 people in every 100,000.

There have been 82 new cases in the Winchester district in the last seven days, down from yesterday's rolling seven-day total of 84.

In the previous week, ending on Sunday October 4, the number was 48, (up from 36), so an increase week on week of below 100 per cent but shallower than in recent days.

No new deaths have been reported in Winchester district, Southampton or the Hampshire County Council area in the last 24 hours but one in Portsmouth.

Nationally, 65 deaths have been reported in the UK today, bringing the number of confirmed reported deaths to 42,825, according to the ONS website.

Today the rate of infection in Hampshire stands at 500.4 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average, 914.0. The Winchester rate (542.2) is higher than the county but much lower than nationally.

There have been 603,716 cases of the virus across the UK. This is an increase of 12,872 in the last 24 hours, down on the 15,166 in the previous 24 hours.

The number of deaths in Hampshire hospitals is now 618. 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, 237; Solent, 2; Southern Health, 17; University Southampton, 200.

But the R number in the south-east has risen to between 1.2 and 1.4 meaning that on average every 10 people infected will infect between 12 and 14 other people.

The growth rate in the south east region is now between +2% and +7%, meaning the number of new infections is growing by up to 7% every day, an increase of one per cent

Regarding Covid patients admitted to hospital, the latest figure is 34 reported on Friday, down 7, reported on Wednesday in the south-east region, that includes Hampshire. There are today (Sunday) 174 with the condition in hospital today, up 15 on Friday, with 8 on ventilators today, down two, 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, 727 (52.6 per 100,000 people), Portsmouth, 79 (36.8) and Southampton, 123 (48.7). The Winchester district figure, the city council area, is 77, a rate of 61.7, higher than the other three areas mentioned. For an unknown reason the Portsmouth figure does not include the death reported today.

Other coronavirus news:

A second national lockdown is moving up the agenda.

Read more here