HAMPSHIRE has seen a jump in coronavirus cases this weekend with almost 1,000 people testing positive.

Over the last two days, a total of 932 residents have tested positive for covid-19.

In Southampton, there were 241 new recorded cases alone.

However, despite this increase, only two people across the county have died with the virus over the same period.

One of these was at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust and the other at the Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

As it stands 14,837 have shown a positive result for covid in Hampshire since the start of the pandemic with 675 people dying.

Meanwhile, the Government has said a further 168 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Sunday, bringing the UK total to 51,934.

As of 9am on Sunday, there had been a further 24,962 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK.

Professor Sir Ian Diamond said that coronavirus cases had increased in the South East, the East Midlands and West Midlands in the last week.

“In England, we have huge regional variation,” he told Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday.

“We have now seen increases in the last week in the East Midlands, West Midlands, and the South East.

“And rates are lower, although slightly increasing, in the rest of the country.”

The head of the Office for National Statistics added that while the current wave of infections started in younger people, it has now moved into all age groups.

But he added: “The good news is that amongst those teenagers and younger adults, we are seeing some reductions.”

He says the Covid-19 rate of growth across the UK is slowing.

He went on to say: “The good news is - yes - we are seeing a slow down in the rate of growth.

However, Sir Ian who was previously a Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Southampton said that he expected to see infections increase in the initial period of restrictions, as “these are infections that people would have caught before the restrictions started”.

He said: “”We will be working tirelessly to monitor how the restrictions are working, impacting on the pandemic.

“And towards the end of the restrictions, to provide all the best data we can to the Government to help ministers.”

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