MORE than 1,300 new cases of coronavirus have been recorded in Hampshire in a 24-hour period.
Latest data on the government website shows a total of 1,358 people were reported to have tested positive for the coronavirus up to 4pm today.
There were 65 cases in Winchester district bringing the number since the start of the pandemic to 2,920.
Other districts - Southampton: 234 (7,030); New Forest: 87 (3,012); Eastleigh: 80 (2,828); Fareham: 71 (2,674); Portsmouth: 183 (7,956); Test Valley: 64 (2,606); Gosport: 53 (1,893);
Havant: 133 (3,961); Hart: 83 (2,288); East Hampshire: 64 (2,713); Rushmoor: 178 (3,852); Basingstoke and Deane: 63 (4,162).
A further 10 Covid-19 deaths have been reported by the NHS in Hampshire, bringing the total to 33 in three days.
At Hampshire Hospitals Trust, which includes the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester, there have been a further two deaths, meaning a total of 246 since the start of the pandemic. At Southampton Hospital the figure now stands at 252 with two deaths reported in the latest statistics released today at 2pm. Portsmouth Hospitals Trust recorded a further six to take its total to 428. Southern Health Trust remains at 25 deaths, with the figure for the Solent NHS Trust stays at four.
Some 539 new cases have been reported in Winchester district in the last seven days to today, 18 per cent, nearly a fifth of the 2,920 cases since the start of the pandemic.
In the seven days to December 29 the number is 514, up 234 on the previous seven days showing the virulence of the new strain of the virus. The rolling rate is above the national average explaining why the Winchester district is now purple on the map along with Southampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight.
The surge in Covid-19 in the Winchester district caused by the virulent new strain shows no sign of abating. Nationally 50,000 new cases have been reported for each of the last six days.
The district's infection rate is 2,338 per 100,000 people. The national infection rate is 4,062 per 100,000.
The Winchester ‘district’ covers more than just the 'city' and covers a swathe of central Hampshire from Micheldever to Denmead, and Crawley to Ropley.
In the week between December 28-January 3 there have been 539 new cases reported in Winchester area, compared to 335 in the week to December 28.
The hotspot in the southern parishes at Denmead and Southwick is again getting hotter. In the two villages in the seven days to December 29, 104 cases were reported, an increase of 23 28.4 per cent, with a rolling rate per 100,000 people of 1,014, amongst the highest in the country. On the official map it is now marked black, the highest indicator.
In the adjacent area of Swanmore, Hambledon and West Meon in the week to December 29 there have been 31 cases, up 9, or 40.9 per cent, for a rolling number of 356, up from yesterday's 331.
Numbers are spiking in the Alresford area. Some 38 were reported in the seven days to December 29, a weekly increase of 26, or 216 per cent, for a rolling rate of 449.1, well above the national average.
Stanmore had been the only area in the district where the numbers had been dropping so fast that the area was marked green on the map. No longer. It reported 14 cases, up 9 or 180 per cent for a rolling number of 206.4, still relatively low but rising.
Across Hampshire there have been 5,875 cases in the seven days to December 29, an increase of 2,085 week on week, or 55 per cent up, for a rolling number of 424.9 per 100,000.
The hottest hotspot in Hampshire is Rushmoor in the north-east of the county which includes Aldershot.
The most recent figures from the NHS show there are currently 44 Covid patients at the RHCH compared to 31 last week and 78 at Basingstoke hospital compared to 44 previously. There are now three at Andover War Memorial Hospital for the first time in months.
As reported last week the local healthcare trust has started postponing planned operations to free up capacity for the care of Covid patients.
Across the county’s NHS some 955 people have died since March.
In Winchester City Council area the figure for deaths is 106, no change. In Portsmouth it is 148, up two, and 153 in Southampton, up two.
The Office for National Statistics reports that 1,112 have died in the Hampshire County Council area, with an increase of 8 reported today.
So far, at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust there have been 246 deaths, up two; 252 people have died at University Hospital Southampton, up two, whilst at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust the toll is now 428, up six.
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