AS coronavirus rises in most places across Hampshire it continues to fall in the Winchester district, according to the latest Government data released this evening at 7.15pm.

In the seven days to last Thursday afternoon there were 67 cases locally, compared to 74 in the previous seven.

Winchester is now in the bottom 15 for infection rates out of more than 300 local authorities across the UK.

The rate per 100,000 people in the seven days to last Thursday December 10 was 53.7 compared to 192.6 in the worst area, Portsmouth, 185.4 in Havant and 171.2 in Rushmoor. The rate in the previous seven days for those four areas was 59.3, 134.0, 115.7 and 72.9.

The number of coronavirus cases in the Winchester district increased in the last 24 hours from 1,859 to 1,874, an increase of 15, an infection rate since March of 1,500.9 per 100,000.

Last month's worst-affected area of Alresford has now seen fewer than three cases.

The figures are based on tests carried out in laboratories (pillar one of the Government’s testing programme) and in the wider community (pillar two).

For clarity ‘Winchester district’ comprises more than the built-up 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.

Hampshire Chronicle:

But in the NHS in Hampshire eight people are reported to have died in the last 24 hours. There have been none since the one reported on Saturday in the area covered by the Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that includes the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester.

In Winchester City Council area the figures for deaths is now 101 with no change since last Wednesday. In Portsmouth it is 109, no change, and 136 in Southampton, no change.

So far, at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust there have been 226 deaths; 229 people have died at University Hospital Southampton, whilst at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust the toll is now 315.

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been a total of 796 deaths in the NHS across Hampshire.

On Sunday, the latest day for which figures are available, there were 195 Covid admissions at hospitals across the south-east, including Hampshire. There were 1,509 patients on Sunday and 113 on ventilators.

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