More than 400 coronavirus cases have been recorded in Southend in the past week.

The latest figures show there were 433 new infections in the borough in the seven days ending July 7.

That was 242 more than the week before and means the infection rate now stands at 236.5 cases per 100,000 people.

Cases have risen in all parts of Southend, with Leigh seeing the biggest rise in new infections.

It has recorded 46 cases in the latest seven-day period, 33 more than the week before.

Cases have also soared in Westborough, West Leigh, Blenheim Park and Belfairs.

Echo:

Here is how many cases have been recorded in each neighbourhood in the borough in the week ending July 7:

  • Leigh – 46
  • Westborough - 43
  • West Leigh – 36
  • Belfairs - 31
  • Blenheim Park – 34
  • Chalkwell – 29
  • Eastwood Park – 24
  • Shoebury – 24
  • Southend Central – 24
  • Eastwood – 23
  • Prittlewell – 20
  • Kursaal – 19
  • St Lukes – 19
  • Victoria – 18
  • West Shoebury – 16
  • Thorpe Bay – 15
  • Great Wakering and Foulness – 12
  • Southchurch – 12

Coronavirus cases are rising in the majority of areas in the UK right now, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson has confirmed many of the remaining Covid restrictions in England will be lifted from Monday.

Mr Johnson urged people to remain cautious and warned the pandemic was not over.

Calum Semple, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) and professor of child health and outbreak medicine at the University of Liverpool, has meanwhile said he thought measures such as mask-wearing could be reintroduced over the winter to deal with a spike in Covid cases.

It comes as a fellow Sage member, Professor Graham Medley, said mask-wearing “probably won’t do any good” unless it is mandatory, adding that the current Covid wave could last six weeks at its peak.

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Speaking in a personal capacity, Professor Semple said the “winter bump” of Covid cases would be “miserable” due to a mixture of Covid-19 and the respiratory viruses that have not been seen for the last year as people stayed at home.

Asked on BBC Breakfast whether restrictions would come back, he said: “Possibly, and it may just be about reinforcing some common sense.

“It may be bringing back some mask-wearing in certain environments, but I don’t foresee the lockdowns or the school suspensions that we’ve seen.”

Prof Semple said he thought “there’s no right time to unlock” but suggested it was “quite realistic” that there could be up to 2,000 hospital admissions per day, as predicted in central modelling assumptions submitted to Sage.

He added: “My big message to people now is sure we’ve weakened the link between community cases and hospital cases, but that link is not broken… it’s the people that are not vaccinated that are still coming to harm.”