ON the day that Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the borough was being elevated into the new Tier four level of coronavirus restrictions, the latest government figures show yet another big jump in the number of people infected with Covid-19 in Thurrock.

Today's (Saturday, 19 December) figures show that in the past seven days 1,767 people have tested positive - 327 of them yesterday.

That is a week-on-week increase of 974 (122.8 per cent) and the borough's rate of infection has risen to 839.2 per 100,000 residents.

In the last seven days in Thurrock there have been seven Covid-19 related deaths, taking the total in the borough where Covid-19 is mentioned on the death certificate to 226. 216 of those deaths were within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test.

Across the UK as a whole there have been just over two million cases of infection and Covid-19 related deaths in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland total 67,075.