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Interactive map shows latest COVID infection rate in your area

This interactive map shows how many coronavirus cases per 100,000 people there have been in your area in the most recent seven-day period for which data is available.

The latest government figures, for the seven days up to 20 January, show Knowsley on Merseyside has the highest infection rate in the UK, at 922.7 per 100,000.

It’s followed by Sandwell in the West Midlands on 868.9 and Slough in Berkshire on 865.3. The Orkney Islands in Scotland has the lowest rate, at 35.9.

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Made with Flourish
Made with Flourish

It comes as Boris Johnson was warned the UK is a “long way” from emerging from the COVID-19 crisis after he signalled ministers would look at easing lockdown measures next month.

The prime minister said he wanted England’s schools to reopen “as fast as possible” and the government would be “looking at the potential of relaxing some measures” when restrictions are reviewed on 15 February.

But at a Downing Street press conference, health secretary Matt Hancock and England’s deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries struck a more cautious tone, highlighting the strain coronavirus cases were putting on the NHS.

The PM faces pressure from Tories to set out a timetable for pupils to return to class – currently only vulnerable children and those whose parents are key workers are attending school, with home learning for all others.

Watch: Matt Hancock says UK on track to vaccinate top priority groups by mid-February

Johnson could not guarantee that pupils would return before Easter, telling reporters: “We want to see schools back as fast as possible, we want to do that in a way that is consistent with fighting the epidemic and keeping the infection rate down.”

His official spokesman later said the government would examine the data “and that will inform what we may or may not be able to ease from 15 February onwards”.

But Mr Hancock said that the “facts on the ground” showed the “pressure on the NHS remains huge”.

Dr Harries also warned: “We are not out of this by a very long way.”

There were 37,000 people in hospital with coronavirus, almost twice the peak in the first wave in April, and more people were on ventilators than at any time in the pandemic.

Watch: What you can and can't do during England's third national lockdown