A Sussex district has the lowest weekly coronavirus rate in England, the latest figures show.

There were just seven new Covid cases reported in the Hastings local authority area in the week leading up to March 27, giving it a rate of 7.6 cases per 100,000 population.

This comes less than four months after the area was among the first in England to be placed under heightened Tier 3 restrictions in a bid to stop the rapid spread of the disease. The district's coronavirus rate soared to 830.9 in late December.

Several other Sussex area's have also recorded promising figures in Public Health England's latest Covid-19 data.

Rother had the fourth lowest weekly rate in England with 10.4, while Wealden was also towards the bottom of the list with 15.5.

Here is a list showing the latest coronavirus rates in all Sussex local authority areas, for the week leading up to March 27.

It reads: name of local authority; rate of new cases in the seven days to March 27; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to March 27; rate of new cases in the seven days to March 20; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to March 20.

  • Crawley, 40.9, (46), 52.5, (59)
  • Eastbourne, 34.7, (36), 41.4, (43)
  • Chichester, 32.2, (39), 42.9, (52)
  • Arun, 30.5, (49), 38.6, (62)
  • Brighton and Hove, 29.9, (87), 37.1, (108)
  • Lewes, 21.3, (22), 26.1, (27)
  • Mid Sussex, 21.2, (32), 15.2, (23)
  • Worthing, 19.9, (22), 37.1, (41)
  • Horsham, 17.4, (25), 16.7, (24)
  • Adur, 15.6, (10), 20.2, (13)
  • Wealden, 15.5, (25), 13.6, (22)
  • Rother, 10.4, (10), 9.4, (9)
  • Hastings, 7.6, (7), 16.2, (15)

There are 315 local authority areas in England. Of these, 130 (41 per cent) have seen a rise in case rates, 175 (56 per cent) have seen a fall and ten are unchanged in the latest figures.

Corby in Northamptonshire continues to have the highest rate in England, with 155 new cases recorded in the seven days to March 27, the equivalent of 214.6 cases per 100,000 people.

This is unchanged on 214.6 per 100,000 in the seven days to March 20.

Rotherham has the second highest rate, up from 137.1 to 170.7, with 453 new cases.

North Warwickshire has the third highest rate, up from 73.5 to 168.5, with 110 new cases.

The five areas in England with the biggest week-on-week rise are:

  • North Warwickshire (up from 73.5 to 168.5)
  • Hinckley & Bosworth (42.4 to 103.4)
  • Copeland (7.3 to 44.0)
  • Trafford (37.9 to 74.2)
  • South Kesteven (84.3 to 120.1)

These figures have been calculated based on Public Health England data published on March 31 on the Government’s coronavirus dashboard.