The coronavirus rate of infection has fallen across Essex over the last seven days.

New statistics from Public Health England show how the infection rate across the county has changed over the past week.

The figures, for the seven days to August 3, are based on tests carried out in laboratories (pillar one of the Government’s testing programme) and in the wider community (pillar two).

The rate is expressed as the number of new cases per 100,000 people.

Data for the most recent three days (August 4-6) has been excluded as it is incomplete and likely to be revised.

During the period Colchester reported four new positive cases.

This was an infection rate of 2.1 cases per 100,000 people.

For the previous seven days to July 27 the rate had been 5.1 cases per 100,000 people.

In Tendring there were also seven new cases reported during the week.

This gave the district an infection rate of 4.8 cases per 100,000 people down from 8.2 the week before.

In Maldon there was one new case meaning there was an infection rate of 1.5 cases per 100,000 people down from 3.1 the week before.

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Braintree saw five new cases recorded with an infection rate of 3.3 cases per 100,000 people down from 9.2 the week before.

In Basildon the rate us now 2.1 cases per 100,000 people down from 3.7 the week before.

Castle Point saw three new cases with a infection rate of 3.3 cases per 100,000 people down from 6.6 the week before.

Chelmsford’s infection rate sits at 5 cases per 100,000 down from 7.8 the week before.

In Thurrock there were two new cases giving the area an infection rate of 1.1 cases per 100,000 people, down from 5.2 the week before.

Rochford also has an infection rate of 1.1 cases per 100,000 people down from 2.3 the previous week.

Southend has the lowest infection rate with 0.5 cases per 100,000 people. This is down from 3.3 cases per 100,000 people the seven days previously.

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The picture across the UK

In Blackburn with Darwen, the rate has fallen from 88.8 cases per 100,000 people in the seven days to July 27 to 82.2 in the seven days to August 3. A total of 123 new cases have been recorded.

Oldham is in second place, where the seven-day rate has jumped from 55.7 to 67.9, with 161 new cases.

Pendle is third, where the rate has risen from 46.7 to 58.6, with 54 new cases.

The rate in Leicester continues to fall, down from 62.4 to 52.2, with 185 new cases.