More than 100 cases of the Delta Covid variant have been identified in south Essex this week - but experts say there has been no signifcant rise in hospitalisations.

Basildon has seen the biggest rises in cases of the so-called Indian variant, with the total number of infections nearly doubling in a single week.

There have now been 87 cases in Basildon – up 42 from this time last week.

Southend has seen another 47 more cases of the variant recorded in the past seven days, taking the overall total to 135.

The smallest rise was in Castle Point, where the number of cases now stands at 35 – up 14 from last Friday.

Thurrock has meanwhile recorded another 24 infections linked to the variant, meaning its overall total stands at 94.

Those identified in the latest week were among at least 6,627 cases of the variant recorded across the East of England – the eighth-worst affected of England's nine regions.

The North West continued to have the highest numbers identified, with 55,936 Delta variant cases recorded there.

Across the UK, 50,824 more cases were recorded in the last week to reach a total of 161,981 – a 46% increase.

Of these, 42 are the so-called Delta plus variant, which India’s health ministry has said spreads more easily, binds more easily to lung cells and is potentially resistant to some drug therapy which can help neutralise the virus.

Three weeks ago, a total of 42,323 cases of the Delta variant had been identified in the UK, meaning the number has now increased almost four-fold.

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But while the Delta variant now accounts for around 95% of new cases sequenced in the UK, the number of people being hospitalised with the infection is not rising proportionally.

There were more than 400 new cases of coronavirus recorded in south Essex in the week ending June 26. 

But the latest data frpom the Mid and South Essex hospital trust shows there were only 14 Covid patients across Southend, Basildon and Broomfield hospitals as of June 29.

Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, said: "The data suggest this is testament to the success of the vaccination programme so far and clearly demonstrates the importance of getting both doses of the vaccine.

"Come forward as soon as you are eligible. It will help us to break the chain of transmission, and it will save lives."

She added that the best thing people could do to protect themselves and loved ones from Covid-19 was to get the vaccine, if eligible, and get tested twice a week.

"Practice ‘hands, face, space, fresh air’ at all times," she said.

Of the 161,981 cases of the Delta variant recorded across the UK, 148,538 have been identified in England, 10,185 in Scotland, 1,749 in Wales and 1,509 in Northern Ireland.