Coronavirus infection cases on rise in New Forest amid sixth week of zero deaths

, although weekly case numbers are rising. New ForestFOR the sixth week running there have been no Covid-19 deaths reported in the

The total death toll in the district this year remains at 131, according to the weekly Tuesday update from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

area, including Christchurch, there were also no deaths reported, so total fatalities in the conurbation stay at 189.BCP CouncilIn the

The latest weekly figures from the ONS relate to deaths that occurred up to 21st August but were registered up to 29th August.

According to separate data from the government, there have been 501 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the New Forest in total – an additional 17 on the same time last week, compared to a lower rise of 10 a week ago.

The total of confirmed cases for the BCP area was 903, a rise of 28 – a higher increase than the previous week’s rise of 16.

This week regional R rates – the average number of people who get infected from someone with the coronavirus – rose from a range of 0.8-1 to 0.9-1.1 in the south-east and from 0.8-1.1 to 0.9-1.1in the south-west.

A rate of more than one indicates the epidemic is growing.