Covid: Hull coronavirus rate 'worst in England'

Hull has England's highest rate of new cases at 726.8 per 100,000 population for the week to 7 November

Health bosses have warned Hull is in "a public health crisis" as coronavirus infection rates in the city are the worst in the country.

Hull has England's highest rate of new cases at 726.8 per 100,000 population for the week to 7 November.

Leaders have urged people to strictly follow lockdown measures imposed by the government last week.

Director of Public Health Julia Weldon said: "This really is a public health crisis."

She added: "We know we're in the middle of a pandemic but for us in Hull it has become more serious.

"I can't stress how serious this is."

She said hospitals had reported 150 Covid-19 patients earlier this week but that figure was expected to rise to "400 in the next couple of weeks".

According to figures from Public Health England, Hull's infection rate was 436.5 per 100,000 population in the week to 31 October.

Analysis

Rob England, BBC England Data Unit

Hull's infection rate of more than 700 cases per 100,000 people is nearly triple the national rate for England - about 250 - in the week to 7 November.

Over the past month the infection rate has been consistently higher among people under the age of 60, which is still the case as of the latest figures.

However, in three of the last four weeks the rate has been rising more rapidly in the over 60s.

It may be too early to tell how long Hull's rate will stay at the top of the list before starting to level off.

The city replaced Oldham, which had the highest rate for about a week before it started to decline. Before that Blackburn with Darwen had the highest rate for about 10 days.

Hull City Council Leader Stephen Brady warned the city would move from tier two to tier three, the highest level of England's three-tier system of Covid restrictions introduced last month, after the current national measures end on 2 December.

"All the restrictions that you have in the present time really will be in place in Hull from 2nd December.

"That's how it stands in the present time and there's no denying that whatsoever, unless we start to see a real effect from this lockdown then that's the position we'll be in on 2 December.

"That's how important it is if we're to have any sort of a normal Christmas."