Just seven areas of the UK have levels of Covid-19 under the government’s own threshold for foreign countries that require travel restrictions.
Brits visiting countries with more than 20 cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day average are required to quarantine for 14 days upon their return.
Yet only a handful of places across the UK itself have infection numbers that would meet those criteria:
- Anglesey – 18.6
- Swindon – 18.9
- Herefordshire – 19.8
- Pembrokeshire – 16.7
- Isle of Wight – 9.9
- Shetland – 0
- Orkney – 0
The areas listed cover just 1.1% of the entire British population.
On Tuesday the list stood at nine but since then Dorset and Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly have both crept above 20 cases per 100,000.
- Dorset – 20.2
- Cornwall and Isles of Scilly – 20.8
The official number of cases in parts of England soared yesterday after a computer glitch in the UK’s Test and Trace system meant the true rates of coronavirus in cities such as Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle upon Tyne was far higher than previously thought.
Manchester now has the highest rate in England, with 2,763 active cases in the seven days to October 1 – the equivalent of 504.5 per 100,000 people, and more than double the figure of 223.2 the previous week.
Knowsley has the second highest rate, with 488.7 cases per 100,000.
On Tuesday it was revealed health officials are expecting Nottingham to be placed in lockdown after a surge in Covid-19 cases there.
The city’s infection rate has soared, with 1,260 new cases during the seven days to October 2 – the equivalent of 382.4 per 100,000 people.
The director of public health for Nottingham, Alison Challenger, said current restrictions in the city “are no longer enough to stop the spread of the virus”.
