A TRAFFIC light system to identify the risk level for Covid-19 could be introduced to Basingstoke.

As infection rates across the county are rising, Hampshire County Council (HCC) said it is exploring the possibility of making it clearer to the public which areas are worse affected.

Some areas of the country have already adopted the traffic light system, with a red alert representing the most severe, followed by amber, yellow and green, which is the least severe.

An area with a red alert level would likely face local lockdown restrictions.

A spokesperson for HCC said: “Covid infection rates are rising across all areas of Hampshire, but the number of positive cases continues to be significantly below the England average.

“The county council monitors public health data on a daily basis to track prevalence of the virus and how it is being transmitted. This in turn ensures timely and appropriate action is taken with our district partners, and that communities are suitably informed.

“While Covid data for Hampshire is published on our website and regularly updated, and includes links to district specific information, we are also actively exploring how we can make this even clearer for the public by, for example, introducing a traffic light system so that it is quick and easy to see how individual districts are faring.”

Official figures show that the number of recorded coronavirus cases in Basingstoke and Deane increased by 18 during the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 1,102.