THE weekly coronavirus rate in Brighton and Hove has fallen to less than half of the England average.

The city has recorded a significant decrease in the number of Covid cases reported since the third national lockdown was announced.

In the latest complete Public Health England figures, covering the week leading up to February 16, there were 177 new cases recorded in Brighton and Hove.

This gave it a weekly rate of 60.8 cases per 100,000 population.

The rate in England during the same period was 128.5, the rate in the United Kingdom was 128.5 and the figure for the South East region was 89.3.

The local authority area with the highest weekly coronavirus rate was Crawley with 166 new positive tests giving it a rate of 147.7 cases per 100,000 population.

The area with the lowest figure was Rother with 28 new weekly cases giving it a rate of 29.1 per 100,000 population.

This marks a steep decline for the district over the last two months. Rother was one of the first places to be placed in Tier 4 in December due to a spike in cases recorded in the area.

In the seven days leading up to December 21 there were 645 positive test reported in the district.