SOUTHAMPTON has seen a spike in Covid-19 cases in the past week following an earlier drop.

The city saw coronavirus infection rates jump from four new cases for every 100,000 residents to 5.1 in the week ending July 10.

The latest figures released by Public Health England show the rate has also increased in the New Forest with 0.6 cases to 1.1.

However, other parts of Hampshire have seen a decrease, with the Test Valley dropping from 2.4 to 1.6 and Eastleigh from 1.5 to 0.8.

Meanwhile, the rate in Winchester has gone from 1.6 to 0.8 and in Portsmouth from 3.3 to 1.4.

New data is released each week and shows how rates of positive coronavirus tests are changing in each area.

The figures, which are for the seven days to July 10, are based on tests carried out in laboratories and in the wider community.

The rate is expressed as the new number of new cases per 100,000 population.

In Leicester, the rate has fallen slightly from 117.7 in the seven days to July 3 to 114.3 in the seven days to July 10. It was 156.8 in the seven days to June 26.

Second on the list is Pendle, where the rate has gone up from 14.2 to 67.8. This has been caused by a spike in new cases recorded on July 6 and 7.

The jump in the rate for Herefordshire from 1.6 to 36.4 is due to 63 cases being recorded on July 9, linked to an outbreak on a farm near Worcester.