FIGURES from Public Health England show the Covid-19 infection rate is rising across Somerset.

Roughly one person in every thousand in the county has the virus, according to the latest data from Public Health England.

Well over 100 cases were recorded in each of Somerset's four districts in the latest weekly totals.

The highest rate of infection in the county is in Mendip, followed by Sedgemoor, then South Somerset and Somerset West and Taunton.

The figures below show, from left to right, the rate of infection per 100,000 people in the seven days to Monday, July 5, with the total number of cases recorded over that period in brackets; the infection rate per 100,000 people for the previous seven days to June 28 is then shown, with the total number of cases for that period in brackets.

  • MENDIP: 108.1 (125); 58.8 (68).
  • SEDGEMOOR: 98.2 (121); 97.4 (120).
  • SOUTH SOMERSET: 94.4 (159); 58.8 (99).
  • SOMERSET WEST AND TAUNTON: 92.8 (144); 83.2 (129).

The number of new cases being reported has risen sharply in recent weeks to totals not seen since early in the year.

But the percentage of people becoming seriously ill and needing hospital treatment or the number of deaths remains low.

Experts put that down to the effectiveness of the vaccination programme.