THE Alresford hotspot is getting hotter.

The market town and surrounding area are now in the top three areas of Hampshire with Covid figures way above the national average.

Government figures show that in the seven days to Tuesday November 17 there were 39 cases in the Alresford area, up 22, or 225 per cent, with a rolling seven-day average of 460.9 people per 100,000.

That puts it behind only Cosham North in Portsmouth with a rolling average of 476.4 per 100,000 and Waterlooville North East with 492.2.

On Sunday November 15 the Alresford figure were 27 cases in the previous seven days, a weekly increase of 20, or 222 per cent, on the previous week, with a rolling average of 342.7 per 100,000 people.

Hampshire Chronicle:

The area around Alresford has seen a Covid spike that has seen Perins School last Wednesday become the first secondary school to close completely in central and southern Hampshire.

Also above the national average is Winchester North and Sparsholt with 24 new cases, a rolling rate of 247.3 per 100,000.

The Alresford area also includes Northington, Bighton, Gundleton, Tichborne, Cheriton, Bishop's Sutton, Bramdean, Shorley, Beauworth and Kilmeston.

‘Winchester district’ comprises more than the city and is the council area which stretches from Micheldever in the north to Southwick in the south, from Sparsholt in the west to Bramdean in the east.

Meanwhile, two more people are reported to have died in Hampshire of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours.

The death toll in the county council area is now 834, up from 832 on Sunday.

In Winchester City Council area the figures for deaths remains at 92. Portsmouth is still on 93 whilst Southampton remains on 132.

The number of coronavirus cases in the Winchester district increased in the last 24 hours by 19 from 1,604 to 1,623, an infection rate of 1,299.9 per 100,000 since the start of the pandemic in March.

The latest available figure for Covid patients at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester was 57 last Monday, down on 63 last Wednesday. Some 43 Covid patients were at the North Hampshire Hospital in Basingstoke.

The latest available data from Public Health England shows that the infection rate in the Winchester district in the seven days to November 18 is 222, a rolling rate of 177.8 per 100,000.

That is slightly down on the 230 cases or 184.2 in every 100,000 people in the seven days to November 17. It is fifth highest in Hampshire after Portsmouth, Havant, Southampton and Gosport.

Some 186 new Covid-19 cases have been reported in the HCC area in the last 24 hours, lower than the usual recent figures of more than 200. The figure is up from 16,083 on Sunday to 16,269 since the start of the pandemic in March.

Figures published by NHS England show that over the last 24 hours one person has been reported to have died in the area covered by the Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust which includes the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester, with none in Portsmouth and one in Southampton.

So far, at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust there have been 200 recorded deaths, up one; 225 people have died at University Hospital Southampton, up one, whilst at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust the toll remains at 270. Since the start of the pandemic, there have been a total of 716 deaths across Hampshire.

The numbers of Covid sufferers being admitted to hospital has started to drop. There were 201 on Thursday but only 145 on Friday in hospitals across the south-east region. Today there are 1,163 patients in south-east hospitals, up 35 from 1,128 on Friday. Ninety-six are on life support through ventilators, the same as Saturday.

Some good news though. The R number in the south-east has slipped down to 1.1-1.3 meaning ten people will infect between 10 and 13 other people.

Other coronavirus news:

What you can and can't do after December 2.

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Winchester will likely be classed as a coronavirus ‘hotspot’ when the second national lockdown ends, according to a model by university scientists.

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