THE number of Covid-19 deaths in Tendring has surpassed 200 since the pandemic began.

The infection rate in the district increased to 627.7 per 100,000 people on Sunday - up from 387.6 on December 29.

There were an additional 181 cases reported in the district on Sunday, bringing the number to 1,148 for the past seven days - an increase of 102.5 per cent on the previous week.

There have been 17 deaths in the district in the seven days to January 3 – 13 more than the previous week.

That brings the total number of deaths within 28 days of positive Covid test in Tendring since the pandemic started to 208.

In comparison, Colchester has seen 1,132 cases in the past week – or 581.4 cases per 100,000 people.

Harwich and Manningtree Standard:

Tendring Council leader Neil Stock said: “Every death is a tragedy and a loss of loved family member.

“I send my commiserations to their family and friends.

“But we have not been hit that badly in this district compared to other areas of Essex.

“But the new strain has been far more transmissible and infections rates are on the rise.

“There’s always a backlog in the figures, but they will peak at some point and I hope that is quite soon and then we will see them come back down.

“For me, the lockdown measures are about as tough as they can be already – although I suspect other areas will now go into Tier 4.

“The Government must recognise that they can’t do much more without completely destroying lives and livelihoods.

“There will be a devastating long-term impact on the economy if we start shutting down all businesses.”

Mr Stock added that he disagreed with moves to close all schools across Essex.

“Many children in Tendring don’t have proper IT or access to broadband,” he said.

“Tendring has some of the most deprived areas in the county and all closing schools will do is make them even more deprived.

“Kids in school clearly spread the infection, but shutting schools doesn’t mean it will stop the spread - children are going to be dumped on grandparents while parents go to work and will spread it to them.

“I just think it is a knee-jerk reaction to close schools without putting something else in place.”