THE UK has past the peak of the current wave of the pandemic, England’s chief medical officer has said.

Professor Chris Whitty said that coronavirus cases, hospital admissions and deaths will continue to fall “provided people continue to follow the guidelines” and that all four nations were on the “downward slope”.

But he stressed that though rates are coming down, they remain “incredibly high” – and could rise quickly – plunging the NHS “back into trouble extraordinarily fast”.

“I think that most of my colleagues think we are past the peak,” Prof Whitty told a Downing Street press conference.

“Now that doesn’t mean you could never have another peak. But, at this point in time, provided people continue to follow the guidelines, we’re on the downward slope of cases, of hospitalisations and of deaths, in all four of the nations of the United Kingdom.

“So I think, we do think, at this point, this peak at least, we are past.”

Prof Whitty said, however, that the number of people in hospital is still higher than in the first peak in April last year. He also warned that the number of deaths would “stay high for quite some time”.

His comments were echoed by Boris Johnson who warned that the level of infection is still “forbiddingly high” and that it is too soon to relax current restrictions.

But what is the picture like in Basingstoke compared to the rest of the UK?

According to government data, cases in the borough have dropped dramatically over the last few weeks.

The Covid map on January 8 depicted all areas in dark blue and purple colours indicating high infection rates and hotspots.

The latest map which uses data from the seven days to January 29, shows Basingstoke with just one hotpot area in purple, Houndmills and Oakridge.

Overton, North Waltham, East Oakley, Woolton Hill, Burghclere and Bishops Green are now appearing green on the map highlighting a significant drop in infections.

Use the slider to see the change in cases.

A total of 16 deaths were recorded in the seven days to January 27, which is a 44.8 per cent decrease from the previous week.

The latest hospital data shows that admissions are still increasing with 178 people admitted to the Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in the seven days to January 17.

Basingstoke hospital is currently on black alert, hospitals usually declare this highest alert level when they are under such significant pressure that they cannot ‘deliver comprehensive care’ and patient care is at risk.

However, a spokesperson for HHFT said the alert system is internal and refers only to Covid patients, not the wider care of other hospital patients.