Stroud saw the 5th largest rise in Covid-19 cases in the UK last week.

The district recorded 461 cases per 100,000 people in the seven days ending July 21, according to the recent complete data available from Public Health England.

New infections were up 89 per cent – or 217 cases – from the week before, when 244 cases per 100,000 were reported.

Only four local areas in the UK had a worse week-on-week rise: Crawley, which saw a rise of 270 cases per 100,000, Kettering (242), Corby (241), South Ribble (231).

Of the 315 local areas in England, 270 (86 per cent) saw a week-on-week rise in rates, 43 (14 per cent) saw a fall, and two remained unchanged.

The Government reported that the number of new cases of Covid-19 reported each day in the UK fell for five days in a row as of Sunday, July 25.

Redcar and Cleveland continued to have the highest rate, with 1,785 new cases in the seven days to July 21, the equivalent of 1,302 per 100,000 people.

A total of 29,173 cases were reported by the Government on Sunday, down from the 48,161 recorded a week ago on July 18, but it is too soon for the data to show any impact from the ending of legal restrictions in England last Monday (July 19) due to the time lag between people becoming infected and getting tested.

Some restrictions remain in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, including limits on indoor gatherings and wearing face coverings in certain areas.

The last time cases fell for five consecutive days was between February 5 and 9.