THE number of positive cases of Covid-19 in Bradford has been continuing to rise in recent days.

Yesterday, January 4, there were 219 new positive cases of the virus confirmed in the Bradford district, the last day before a strict third national lockdown began today.

In the last seven days - December 29 to January 4 - there have been 1,345 new confirmed cases, a rise of almost a third on the previous seven day period.

The weekly rolling total has jumped up by 330, a 32.5 per cent increase.

In the same period, there have been 21 deaths within four weeks of a positive Covid-19 test.

In the most recent weekly statistics available from Government for hospital admissions - December 21 to 27 - a total of 83 patients were admitted to hospital with Covid-19, a rise of almost 30 per cent.

The latest reproduction rate figure for Yorkshire and the North East is 0.9 to 1.1, which means every ten people who have the virus are infecting between nine and 11 people. Nationally, the figure is 1.1 to 1.3.

Across England, there were 58,784 new positive cases of Covid-19 yesterday, and in the past week there have been 383,834 new cases, an increase just shy of 50 per cent.

There were 407 deaths yesterday within 28 days of a positive test, and 4,278 in the past week, a rise of 20.9 per cent, and in the latest figures almost 15,000 people were admitted to hospital within Covid-19 between December 21 and 27.