NINE areas of the Winchester district are now almost Covid-free, according to figures released today.

Covid numbers have edged up in four other areas of the district.

The nine areas, where there have been fewer than three cases in the last seven days to Monday March 1, are:

Winchester West (Weeke and Fulflood);

Winchester East (Winnall, Highcliffe and Bar End);

Winchester Central and South;

Stanmore;

Oliver’s Battery and Hursley;

South Wonston, Sutton Scotney and Micheldever;

Swanmore, Hambledon and West Meon;

Bishop's Waltham and Waltham Chase;

Whiteley, Knowle and Wickham.

These areas are now marked white on the Government Covid map.

The Winchester Covid numbers

The Winchester Covid numbers

Numbers have dropped in Springvale and Itchen Abbas, which had seen a seven-day increase for the last seven days.

The numbers are very low but cases have increased in the following four areas:

Alresford, five cases, up three (150 per cent) for rolling average of 59.1 per 100,000;

Denmead and Southwick, eight cases, up two (33 per cent) 78.0, right on the national average;

Winchester North and Sparsholt, five cases, up one (150 per cent), 51.5;

Colden Common and Twyford, three cases, up one, (50 per cent), 31.5.

The numnber of white areas in the Winchester district

The numnber of white areas in the Winchester district

In the Winchester district as a whole official figures in the week to Monday March 1 there were 35 cases, down 8, or 19 per cent for a rolling rate per 100,000 people of 28.0. The Press Association national news agency reported that the figures to Thursday March 4 show only 22 places out of 315 in the UK with a better record than Winchester, mostly in the West Country.

The district covers more than just the city but includes countryside from Micheldever to Denmead.

In the last seven days to today (Saturday) there have only been 28 new cases in the Winchester district, down from the previous week’s 44. The 28 figure is the lowest since Friday October 2.

The number of Winchester district cases since the start of the pandemic is now 4,754 for a rate per 100,000 people of 3,807. No new deaths have been reported keeping the number at 183, a rate of 146.6 per 100,000 people. In the last seven days there have been four deaths.

The crisis at the Hampshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has carried on easing. Last Monday there were 52 patients – 33 at Basingstoke, 19 at RHCH and none at Andover. The previous Monday there were 85 patients who have tested positive for Covid-19 – 51 at Basingstoke, 34 at RHCH and none at Andover.

Across the NHS trusts in Hampshire (Hampshire, Southampton, Portsmouth, Southern and Solent) eight Covid patients have died, two in Hampshire Hospitals, four in Portsmouth and two in Southampton. That brings the overall figure to 1,842.

Meanwhile, there are only ten schools in Hampshire affected by Covid, up three, with none in the Winchester district.

There are no new cases at Winchester University and 198 since last September,according to its website.

The map below shows the latest numbers for Hampshire and how the pandemic is easing in the South earlier than in the Midlands and the North.

The Hampshire figures released today

The Hampshire figures released today

More than 142 new coronavirus cases have been recorded in Hampshire over the 24 hours.

Public Health England figures - as recorded on the government's website - show that, as of 4pm today, 142 more people have tested positive for the virus.

Below are the confirmed cases by local authority in the 24 hours up to March 6:

Basingstoke and Deane: 14 (7,906) in total since start of pandemic)

East Hampshire: 4 (4,726)

Eastleigh: 14 (5,526)

Fareham: 9 (5,060)

Gosport: 4 (3,726)

Hart: 1 (4,169)

Havant: 16 (6,853)

New Forest: 7 (5,947)

Portsmouth: 36 (13,824)

Rushmoor: 7 (7,590)

Southampton: 18 (13,693)

Test Valley: 5 (5,145)

Winchester: 7 (4,754)