Coronavirus infection rates were rising in only nine local authorities in England despite being in a national lockdown for a month, new figures show.
All but one of the areas are in the North or the Midlands, and four recorded slight week-on-week increases of about only one to six points.
The latest numbers show that 97 per cent of local authorities saw decline or no change in their rates in the seven days to February 8 compared with the previous week.
Rutland in the East Midlands recorded the biggest increase and continued to have England's highest seven-day rate of new confirmed cases.