Epping Forest’s rate of infection has fallen by almost 50 per cent – the largest weekly reduction in England.

Between January 7 – 14 (the latest available accurate data) the Covid-19 rate of infection in the district has fallen to 588.5 with 775 cases recorded across the seven day period.

The week before there were 1,542 new lab-confirmed infections – one of the highest rates of infection in the country at 1,170.9 cases per 100,000 residents.

The numbers reflect the impact of the third national lockdown, which came into force on January 6.

Harlow has experienced the ninth largest reduction in its infection rate, from 1,339.2 (1,166 new case) to 905.1 (788) but still remains one of the worst affected parts of England, with the eleventh highest rate in the country.

Of the 315 local areas in England, 279 (89 per cent) have seen a fall in case rates in comparison with the previous week.

The rates have fallen across every region in the country over the same period, with the highest drop in London, down from 1,014.6 cases per 100,000 people to 761.3.

It is followed by eastern England, which is down from 755.0 to 556.6 and the South East which is down from 688.7 to 530.4.

But the number of Covid-19 patients in hospital has risen week-on-week across every region.

The latest data from NHS England shows the number of Covid-19 patients in hospital in England stood at 33,352 as of 8am on Sunday, January 17.

This is a small drop on the record 33,362 reported on Friday January 15, but up 8 per cent from January 10, and up 88 per cent since Christmas Day.

While the number of coronavirus patients in hospitals has increased across every region week-on-week, in London, the East of England and South East – which have had some of the highest rates – the rise has been by less than 5 per cent.

Professor Stephen Powis, national medical director for the NHS in England, said it will take a number of weeks before a slowdown in infection rates has an effect on the number of people in hospital.

On when the current lockdown measures will have an effect on hospital admissions, he said: “I think we are beginning to see an effect of lockdown measures.

“We know the lockdown measures work, we saw that in April, we saw it in November.

“And we are beginning to see it now and that’s good news because, of course, we have also had this new strain which is more transmissible.

“So although infection rates are beginning to slow, maybe here in London and a little bit less so in the rest of the country, it will be a number of weeks before we start to see that effect on the number of people in hospitals.”

The number of hospital admissions of people with Covid-19 in England was 3,295 on January 15, according to the latest figures from NHS England.