Sunderland's weekly case rate rises by 666% as city is warned it is on is last chance before local lockdown

The weekly rates look at each council area, showing how many cases have been identified through tests carried out in laboratories and also in the wider community.

The latest statistics show that in the seven days up to Tuesday, September 1, the infection rate per 100,000 people was 11.9, or 33 cases.

In the week after that, up to Tuesday, September 8, it rose to 91.1 cases per 100,000 people, with 253 cases recorded – an increase of 666%.

Yesterday, Friday, September 11, the city was added to Public Health England’s watchlist and given Enhanced Support status, with the extra support being given to its health bosses in a bid to avoid a local lockdown being ordered – with the warning it was on its “last chance”.

Sunderland City Council also confirmed a further 33 cases had been identified in connection with a charity football match played at Burnside Working Men’s Club in Fence Houses, with a total of 61 now linked to the event on the border between Wearside and County Durham.

As it was put onto the watchlist, directors wrote to each hospitality venue across the area to remind them of their responsibilities to stick to Covid measures and warned if they did not comply with rules, they could face restrictions or closure.

The area’s continuing rise puts it in a table of places where the rate has risen sharply.

The most have been seen in Bolton, where 515 cases have been recorded up to September 8, the equivalent of 179.1 cases per 100,000 people, up from a rate of 94.9 and 273 cases.

It is followed by Oadby and Wigston, in Leicestershire, up from a rate of 8.8 and five cases to 100 and 57 cases; Preston, with a rate of 99.2 and 142 cases from 39.8 to 57 cases; Blackburn with Darwen with 55.4 and 83 cases up to 96.9 and 145 cases and then Tameside, with 46.8 and 106 cases up to 93.6 and 212 cases.

Sunderland then follows.

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