The Covid-19 infection rate in Maldon is now dropping after reaching a peak of more than 1,000 cases per 100,000 people.

The latest complete figures for the seven days up to 6 January show that there were 573 new cases in Maldon district, equal to 882.1 cases per 100,000 population.

Exactly one week earlier, on 30 December, the seven-day infection rate was 925.6 per 100,000 – and by 2 January, that had risen to 1008.5 cases per 100,00.

The better news comes as the infection rate for the Essex County Council area has started to slow. The latest rate to 6 January is 1,055 per 100,000 people with a total of 15, 593 new cases identified over the previous seven days. One week before, on 30 December, it was 1,040.8 per 100,000 – however, by 2 January that had in fact climbed to 1,144.3 per 100,000, so the 6 January figures show that new case numbers have slowly started to fall.

Most districts in the county show a drop in infection rates in the latest data, with the three areas which remained under Tier Two restrictions – Colchester, Tendring and Uttlesford - when the rest of the county went into Tier Four on Sunday, December 20, being the last to start to show slowed rates of infection in the days since the announcement of a new national lockdown on Monday, 4 January.

Those areas entered Tier Four after Boxing Day, giving the tighter restrictions less time to take effect.