There have been 10 new cases of coronavirus confirmed in Lewisham town centre in recent days, according to the latest data published by Public Health England (PHE).

The state health authority's daily dashboard of updated figures showed a sharp rise in the number of new cases confirmed in the 'Lewisham Central and Park' SE13 postcode.

10 new cases of the virus were confirmed between September 14-20, the data showed.

Three more cases were confirmed in the neighbouring Ladywell area over the same period, while five more were also reported in New Cross South to the north.

Lewisham Council's own borough-specific data showed Friday that the infection rate in the borough remains lower than the rate in London as a whole.

According to the council's seven-day Covid rate table, Lewisham has 17.5 cases per 100,000 people, compared to 25.3 for London and 34.1 for England.

Nonetheless the rise in confirmed cases mirrors a sharp increase in the numbers of new cases of the deadly virus being confirmed in recent days in London and across the UK.

On Friday (September 25), PHE confirmed that the UK had experienced a record daily rise in the number of new cases of the virus.

The UK reported 6,874 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday, a rise of 240 from Thursday.

That pushed the total number of confirmed cases in the UK to some 423,236 overall.