KEEPING track of the ups and downs of the pandemic can be tiring, with new information and changes on a regular basis.

In case you missed anything along the way, we’ve put together the Covid-19 headlines (good and bad!) in Basingstoke this week to help you get caught up:

The Hampshire Court has been named one of the top five performing Covid-19 vaccination sites in the country.

The hotel, based in Chineham, became a vaccination centre in December 2020 and to date have administered over 65,000 vaccines, which amounts to a whopping 95 per cent of the total vaccines administered in Hampshire.

More than 200 people are believed to have contracted Covid-19 in hospital at the trust that runs Basingstoke hospital, figures suggest.

Analysis of NHS England data shows that, between August 1 and March 21, 242 people were thought to have been infected with Covid-19 at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which also runs Andover and Winchester hospitals, while being treated in hospital for other conditions.

The highest number of such transmissions was recorded in November alone, when 76 people were believed to have been infected in hospital.

Hampshire Hospitals Trust cared for 1,518 Covid-19 patients between August 1 and March 21 – meaning 16 per cent are thought to have contracted the disease in hospital.

This is above the 15 per cent average for all NHS acute trusts across the South East.

Across England, 40,670 people are thought to have been infected with Covid-19 in hospital since August – 15 per cent of all inpatients with the disease.

In the seven days to March 26, the areas of Tadley West, Kingsclere & Heath End and Tadley East, Pamber & Silchester have all recorded more than eight new Covid cases.

All three areas on the Berkshire border now have had more than 100 Covid cases per 100,000 people in the last week, above the England average.

But elsewhere in the borough, it's better news.

Just five other Middle Layer Super Output Areas - a population-based way of splitting the country that are slightly larger than council wards - recorded more than three Covid cases in the week to March 26.

Clothes shoppers in Basingstoke will be able to use fitting rooms again after more than a year when non-essential shops reopen on April 12.

The Government has released new guidance on fitting rooms after advising shops after the first lockdown to keep changing rooms closed “wherever possible” unless essential.

Retailers have been calling for updated regulations in an effort to compete with online rivals, reduce return rates and restore faith in high street businesses.

A Covid testing site at a theatre in Basingstoke will close next week.

A walk-in testing centre was set-up at the Anvil in October to cope with a rise in demand for testing and concerns over accessibility for tests.

In recent weeks, as the number of Covid cases in the country has dwindled, it has been open for symptomatic testing in the morning and for residents to pick up rapid asymptomatic tests in the afternoon.

But the Department for Health and Social Care has confirmed to The Gazette today that it will close from next Tuesday, April 6.

People in Basingstoke who live with someone with a weakened immune system will be prioritised to receive a Covid-19 vaccine.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has updated its guidance and now states that people over the age of 16 who live in a house with an adult with a weakened immune system should be prioritised for a Covid vaccine.

It will see those who live with someone with blood cancer, HIV or are having immunosuppressive treatment such as chemotherapy, among others, eligible to receive their first dose.

Shops in Basingstoke are set to stay open until 10pm once lockdown restrictions have been eased.

The government have announced that non-essential retail will be able to open from 7am to 10pm for six days a week.

It will mean that if measures to ease lockdown progress to the next stage as planned on April 12, shoppers in Basingstoke will be able to visit later, allowing people to avoid the crowds.