A total of 70 per cent of towns and cities in England saw a rise in Covid cases after Christmas - with alarming rises in Merseyside and the West Midlands.
Of 315 local authority areas, 222 have experienced a week-on-week rise in the seven days to last Thursday, Public Health England data reveals.
Barking & Dagenham, in East London, is England's worst coronavirus hotspot, with 3,251 new cases recorded in just a week.
This is the equivalent of 1,527 cases per 100,000 people - a very slight fall from the previous week's 1,531.2. Nearby Newham has the second highest rate, up from 1,336.6 to 1,390.1 with 4,909 new cases.