How Sheffield's Covid-19 infection rate compares to Leicester after health boss warning

A number of tools have been developed to help people to keep track of the risk of second waves in different parts of the country based on factors like population density, age and hospital resources.

How likely a second wave of coronavirus in any given area is also dependant on the infection rate rising again – or ‘spiking’ – meaning that the number of new cases in a location is increasing week-on-week.

A spike could indicate an imminent second wave if the rate of infection continues to increase, meaning measures like track and trace and, in extreme circumstances local lockdowns, need to be used to control the virus.

Think tank Centre For Cities has developed a tracker that people can use to keep an eye on how many cases have been reported in their city or large town in the past week, as well as monitoring if that total is an increase on the week before.

In Leicester, where the spike is the most severe and a local lockdown is in place, the total confirmed cases per 100,000 of the population in the last week of June is 109. This figure has been increasing over the past four weeks.

Yesterday Sheffield’s Director for Public Health warned that Sheffield’s infection rate is “too high with little room for manoeuvre”.

In Sheffield, the number of cases last week per 100,000 of the population is 26, meaning it is the fifth highest in the country, however significantly lower than Leicester. This is also an increase in the week before for Sheffield: it was 20.6 the week before.

Elsewhere in South Yorkshire, the number of new cases in Doncaster is also on the rise. There have been 21 new cases per 100,000 of the population, up from 17.4 the previous week.

And Barnsley has the third-highest infection rate, with 38 new cases per 100,000 of the population in the last week of June. However, this is a significant drop from the week before, where the figure stood at 54.7.