West Norfolk coronavirus case numbers up 50 per cent in a week, new data says

Coronavirus infection rates in West Norfolk are continuing to soar, according to latest government figures.

Data for the seven days up to last Wednesday, December 23, showed there were 448 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the borough, up by 152 or 51 per cent on the previous week.

The area's rolling infection rate has also risen to 295.9 per 100,000 people, which is above the national average.

Case rates are also rising in every other district of Norfolk.

And separate figures show there were 146 coronavirus patients being treated at Lynn's Queen Elizabeth Hospital on the same day, with four being ventilated.

Last week, the hospital's chief executive, Caroline Shaw, warned the hospital was seeing twice as many Covid patients now as during the first wave of the virus.

The figures do not yet take account of the new tier four restrictions which Norfolk has been living under since Boxing Day.

But, with a new record of more than 53,000 cases reported across the UK over the last 24 hours, there are likely to be renewed calls for another national lockdown.