NINE areas of the Winchester district are now almost Covid-free, according to figures released today.

Numbers in the Winchester West hotspot, centred on the prison, are falling fast and there have been very small rises in only one part of the Winchester district, Swanmore, Hambledon and West Meon.

There are now only eight areas across the whole of the UK with better numbers.

The seven local areas now marked white on the Government map, because they have had fewer than three cases in the seven days to February 21, are:

Alresford;

Springvale and Itchen Abbas;

South Wonston, Sutton Scotney and Micheldever;

Winchester North;

Oliver’s Battery and Hursley;

Stanmore;

Winchester East.

In the last 48 hours Colden Common and Twyford and Winchester Central and South have joined the list.

Winchester West area surrounded by a sea of white, of non-Covid areas

Winchester West area surrounded by a sea of white, of non-Covid areas

In the official figures in the week to Sunday February 21 there were 49 cases, down 69 or 60 per cent for a rolling rate per 100,000 people of 36.8. The Press Association national news agency reports today that the figures to Monday February 22 show only seven places with a better record, mostly in the West Country: Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, Gloucester, Isle of Wight, North Devon, South Hams, Torridge and West Devon.

Winchester: only eight places with better numbers

Winchester: only eight places with better numbers

Over the last seven days the number of reported new cases have been six today and six, seven, seven, four, six and six. This is the lowest run of numbers since September/October.

In the hotspot Winchester West area, which includes the prison, in the seven days to February 21 there were 8 new cases, a decrease of 40, a fall of 83 per cent, for a rolling week-on-week rolling rate of 80.3 per 100,000, still higher than the national average.

The only other area seeing an increase is Swanmore, Hambledon and West Meon, nine case, up six (200 per cent) a rolling 103.4..

In the last seven days to today (Friday) there have been 42 new cases in the Winchester district, down from the previous week’s 96.

The number of Winchester district cases since the start of the pandemic is now 4,718 for a rate per 100,000 people of 3,777. Two new deaths have been reported. The district covers more than just the city but includes countryside from Micheldever to Denmead.

The number of deaths in Winchester district since the start of the pandemic is 179, a rate of 143.4 per 100,000 people. In the last seven days there have been seven deaths.

Last Friday Cllr Phil North, leader of Test Valley Borough Council, reported from an NHS briefing that the number of patients in Hampshire Trust hospitals was down to 95, from 135 the previous Friday. Three weeks ago the number was 245. Monday last week the number was 124 with 68 at the Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital and 56 at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester.