Derbyshire records record high of more than 800 Covid cases in a single day

Data shows that as of Monday, November 2, Derbyshire as a whole reported 847 new cases of the virus, surpassing 700 and 800 cases in a day for the first time.

Its previous record high, with no comparative figures for the first peak due to a lack of community testing, came five days before on Wednesday, October 28 when the county reported 615 new cases, surpassing 600 for the first time.

Derby itself saw its own record daily total surpass 200 for the first time on November 2, with 263 new cases within 24 hours, up from its previous record of 182 cases on October 28.

Up to November 5, the city had surpassed 100 cases a day for 18 consecutive days (October 19 to November 5).

More testing is being done in Derby, which has gained three new walk-through Covid testing sites in the past three weeks.

This can explain some of the increase in reported cases.

However, it does not explain significant increases across the county area or the rapid increase in the proportion of people testing positive out of those tested.

Derby, as of the week to November 3, has an infection rate of 440 cases per 100,000 people, significantly higher than hotspots such as Nottingham, Leicester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Sheffield – which have been under close scrutiny for much longer.

It has surpassed 1,000 cases in the past week, possibly for the first time, with 1,131 cases in the week to November 3.

This is within striking distance of the number seen in Nottingham, which is a larger city, and saw 1,204 cases.

Leicester, an even larger city, had 1,458 cases in the same week.

Figures for the week October 28 to November 3 show Derbyshire has clocked a record high of nearly 4,000 cases within seven days.

Here are the number of new Covid cases per 100,000 people for each Derbyshire district in the week to November 3, followed by the corresponding number of new cases:

Amber Valley 375 cases per 100,000 people (480 new cases); Bolsover 477 (384); Chesterfield 368 (351); Derbyshire Dales 170, (123), Derby 440 (1,131); Erewash 299 (345); High Peak 317 (294); North East Derbyshire 332 (337); South Derbyshire: 423 (454).

The national average number of new cases per 100,000 people in the week to November 3 is 167.

Five areas of Derbyshire surpass this rate.

For comparison, in the same week, Liverpool had a case rate of 301 with 1,501 new cases, Birmingham had a case rate 316 with new 3,613 cases, Nottingham had a case rate of 362 with 1,204 new cases, Sheffield had a case rate of 387 with new 2,265 cases, Leicester had a case rate of 412 with new 1,458 cases and Manchester had a case rate of 461 with new 2,547 cases.