The Covid-19 infection rate for Maldon district has taken another swoop downwards in the latest complete Public Health England data available.

In the seven days leading up to Thursday, 28 January there was a total of 156 new cases recorded in the Maldon district. This is equal to 240.3 cases per 100,000 population. Just three days earlier, on Monday, 25 January, the rate for the district stood at 326.5 per 100,00.

While the figure remains very high, the dramatic drop shows that the lockdown is working to bring the district's case rate back down. In the week leading up to Monday, 4 January, Maldon recorded 708 new cases, equal to 1,089.6 cases per 100,000.

The news comes the day after it was announced (Wednesday, 3 February) that the major incident in Essex - declared on 30 December as the county's NHS was in danger of being overwhelmed by Covid cases - has been stood down.

However, while the local NHS is now in a more stable condition, high levels of pressure remain, with 776 hospital beds occupied by Covid patients across the Mid and South Essex NHS Hopsitals Trust as of yesterday, according to Government figures. The three hospitals of the Trust include Broomfield, Basildon and Southend.

Anthony McKeever, Executive Lead for Mid and South Essex Health and Care Partnership, said: "It has taken a considerable effort by our teams throughout health, care and beyond to begin to turn the tide in our fight against coronavirus.

"Through the support of our local communities, the rates of infection are beginning to drop, which in turn supports the NHS to continue to care for those most in need.

"Pressures persist and the threat has not gone away yet. They need us all to follow the rules so that partners across Essex can keep working together to support delivery of the NHS Covid-19 vaccination programme."

The infection rate for the whole county area has also continued to drop, with 4,416 cases recorded over the seven days to 28 January, equal to 295.7 cases per 100,000 people. Essex was recording seven-day rates in excess of 1,200 per 100,000 in the early days of the New Year.