THE Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole area currently has the highest coronavirus rate in the south west.

In the seven days leading up to December 30, the south west’s infection rate was 269.9 cases per 100,000 people, up from 176.3 the previous week and 124.0 two weeks ago.

Despite this, the south west still had the second lowest rate of any region, beaten only by Yorkshire & the Humber.

And BCP had the highest rate in the region, with 434.3 cases per 100,000 people.

Swindon was next with 432.1 and Gloucester third with 418.2.

These three areas are in Tier 4, along with most of Gloucestershire and Somerset. The rest of the region is in Tier 3, except the Isles of Scilly which are in Tier 1.

The Dorset Council area had a rate of 196.6 per 100,000 people.

There were 1,323 patients in hospital with Covid-19 in south-west England as of 8am on January 3 – a record number and up 20 per cent in a week.

Across Dorset’s hospitals, 99 patients were in the University Hospitals Dorset with coronavirus on December 29, down from 107 on December 22.

The Dorset County Hospital had 16 patients, up from five and the Dorset Healthcare Trust had 20, down from 22.

On December 29, seven patients at UHD required mechanical ventilation, two did at Dorset County Hospital and none did at the Dorset Healthcare Trust.