The 32 areas of England where new COVID cases are still increasing

Coronavirus cases are still on the rise in at least 32 areas of England despite infections decreasing on average across the country.

COVID-19 cases are going up in areas like Preston, Redditch, Dorset and Coventry, according to the latest data from PA.

It comes as the country is battling with a devastating second wave fuelled by a new variant first discovered in the South East that could be 30% more deadly.

A surge in infections and deaths has pushed the NHS to the brink of being overwhelmed and sparked a nationwide lockdown.

Read: The 9 areas of England where 1 in 20 people could have had COVID last week

This week the country’s average R rate has dropped below one and infection numbers are on average beginning to decrease with most areas seeing a decline.

However, England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty warned on Friday that the situation in the UK remained “extremely precarious” with the virus still on the increase in some parts of the country.

Whitty said: “In terms of the infection rate, if you took the country as a whole and just averaged it, then the number of infections is broadly going down but it is at a very high level, and it is extremely precarious – I really want to stress this.

Watch: COVID-19: Scientists warn against early easing of lockdown as PM warns of more “deadly” variant

“A very small change and it could start taking off again from an extremely high base, and there are some areas of the country and some age groups in which it does not appear to be going down – for example in people (aged) 20-30, the evidence is that it may still be increasing in some parts of the country.

“It is not solidly going down and it is very, very high.”

Whitty said the peak of deaths “may well be still in the future”, before warning: “If people took this moment and said, ‘Right, it is over’, it would get back into very deep trouble very fast and the NHS is absolutely at the top of what it can manage.

“If that happened again, we would be in really, really deep trouble.”

Of the 315 local areas in England, 32 (10%) have seen a rise in case rates while 281 (89%) have seen a fall and two are unchanged, according to the latest PA analysis.

The figures are from the seven days to January 18 and are based on tests carried out in laboratories and in the wider community.

Data for the most recent four days (January 19-22) has been excluded as it is incomplete and does not reflect the true number of cases.

The rate, expressed as the number of new cases per 100,000 people, is going up in these 32 areas, based on Public Health England data published on January 22 on the Government’s coronavirus dashboard:

1. Walsall, 741.6, (2117), 737.4, (2105)

2. Redditch, 717.8, (612), 591.1, (504)

3. Worcester, 687.6, (696), 676.7, (685)

4. Dudley, 682.5, (2195), 647.4, (2082)

5. South Staffordshire, 592.3, (666), 576.3, (648)

6. Leicester, 569.1, (2016), 531.3, (1882)

7. Coventry, 510.6, (1897), 506.8, (1883)

8. Bolsover, 510.2, (411), 440.7, (355)

9. Solihull, 508.8, (1101), 502.8, (1088)

10. Preston, 503.0, (720), 484.9, (694)

11. Middlesbrough, 501.5, (707), 471.7, (665)

12. West Lancashire, 476.8, (545), 469.8, (537)

13. Erewash, 475.9, (549), 392.6, (453)

14. North Warwickshire, 426.0, (278), 366.2, (239)

15. Shropshire, 417.5, (1349), 416.9, (1347)

16. Redcar and Cleveland, 408.3, (560), 406.9, (558)

17. Blaby, 406.8, (413), 385.1, (391)

18. Chesterfield, 381.3, (400), 362.2, (380)

19. Somerset West and Taunton, 372.6, (578), 361.0, (560)

20. Broxtowe, 368.3, (420), 338.5, (386)

21. North West Leicestershire, 365.8, (379), 326.2, (338)

22. Hinckley and Bosworth, 358.0, (405), 313.8, (355)

23. North East Derbyshire, 330.2, (335), 310.5, (315)

24. Plymouth, 319.7, (838), 309.0, (810)

25. Dorset, 311.2, (1178), 310.7, (1176)

26. South Holland, 299.9, (285), 287.3, (273)

27. Warwick, 292.9, (421), 269.9, (388)

28. Mendip, 283.8, (328), 260.4, (301)

29. Newcastle upon Tyne, 277.4, (840), 271.1, (821)

30. Northumberland, 272.6, (879), 243.5, (785)

31. Melton, 242.1, (124), 230.4, (118)

32. West Devon, 179.2, (100), 127.2, (71)

Knowsley in Merseyside continues to have the highest rate in England, with 1,531 new cases recorded in the seven days to January 18, the equivalent of 1,014.8 cases per 100,000 people.

This is down from 1,331.7 cases per 100,000 people in the seven days to January 11.

Slough in Berkshire has the second-highest rate, down from 1,061.9 to 936.9, with 1,401 new cases.

Sandwell in the West Midlands is in third place, down from 923.7 to 898.5, with 2,951 new cases.

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Meanwhile, new infection rates per 100,000 people are increasing the fastest in Redditch and Erewash.

Redditch saw 591.1 cases per 100,000 in the seven days to January 11 but this jumped 717.8 in the seven days to January 18.

In Erewash, 392.6 cases per 100,000 were recorded in the week up to January 11 compared to 475.9 in the week up to January 18.

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