Weekly coronavirus cases in Brighton and Hove almost double

There were 221 cases confirmed in the city in the seven days leading up to October 7.

This comes a week after an increase of 115 cases in the seven days leading up to October 1 prompted health chiefs to put the city under an amber Covid alert and warn residents that the city could face a local lockdown.

The figure for the week ending on October 1 was almost three times the number from the week before, when there were 39 cases.

• READ MORE: Brighton and Hove risks a local lockdown says health chief after weekly cases almost triple

Speaking on October 6, following the release of the figures showing a rise of 115 cases in a week, Brighton and Hove's director of public health Alistair Hill said: “It’s really concerning that the number of cases has more than doubled over the past week. 

"If transmission keeps increasing we risk the Government imposing more restrictions on the city. 

“We all now need to make extra efforts or risk a local lockdown."

He said that some, but not all, of the sudden increase could be put down to an increased availability of testing to Brighton and Hove residents - with new testing centres constructed at Plumpton Racecourse and East Brighton Park in recent weeks.

However, the latest figures show the number of confirmed cases has continued to rise.

The increase of 221 cases in a week means Brighton and Hove had 74 cases per 100,000 people in the seven days leading up to October 8.

• READ MORE: What we know so far about the government's new three-tiered coronavirus alert system

According to reports from Sky News, this would put it in the "medium risk" or level one category of a new three-tier Covid alert system set to be announced by Boris Johnson today.

This is the lowest level, and would mean the city was under the least restrictions.

Meanwhile, areas such as Liverpool (with 600 cases per 100,000 people) would be under the highest alert level and could see gyms and pubs closed to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The University of Brighton and the University of Sussex have adopted a "transparent" approach to sharing data on the number of coronavirus cases recorded at their institutions, publishing the information online.

The first cases were confirmed at the University of Sussex late last month.

The University of Brighton confirmed its first cases early this month.

There have now been 50 cases at the University of Sussex, as of October 7, and 50 cases at the University of Brighton, as of October 11.