Sunderland's coronavirus weekly rate doubles for second week as health bosses urge people to stick to social distancing rules

The figures, for the seven days to Sunday, August 9, are based on tests carried out in laboratories (pillar one of the Government’s testing programme) and in the wider community (pillar two).

And in PHE data published this week – on Wednesday, August 12 – Sunderland’s latest case rate was recorded as being at 6.8 (per 100,000 people) for that time period, with 19 new cases of coronavirus reported in the same seven-day stretch.

For the previous week, for the seven days to Sunday, August 2, the weekly rate was 3.6 with 10 new cases reported.

The week before – the seven days leading up to Monday, July 27 – saw four cases recorded which was a weekly rate of 1.4.

Earlier this week, Sunderland City Council’s director of public health – Gillian Gibson – stressed the importance of social distancing, the risk of visiting other homes, pubs and events, the importance of handwashing and using face coverings correctly in a bid to keep the coronavirus situation in the city “finely balanced”.

Her comments came following an increase in the number of Covid-19 tests requested on Wearside between Friday, July 31 and Wednesday, August 5.

Elsewhere in the North East, case rates in Newcastle (5.3 up from 4.0) and South Tyneside (4.0 up from 2.0) also rose from the previous week’s data, while numbers in County Durham remained steady at a rate of 2.3.

Figures are based on Public Health England data.

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