COLCHESTER has now recorded more than 10,000 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, while Tendring has registered more than 9,000 - but rates continue to fall.

Latest figures from NHS England show 459 people living in Colchester tested positive for Covid-19 between January 27 and February 3, bringing the infection rate to 235.7 per 100,000.

This means the total number of coronavirus cases in the area now sits at 10,322.

In Tendring, this number is slightly lower, with 9,028 residents having now tested positive for coronavirus after 444 people returned a positive result between January 27 and February 3.

Despite the district’s overall cases being lower, the current infection rate is higher at 302.9 per 100,000 people.

Comparatively, Colchester and Tendring’s rates of infection are higher than the current 211.4 infection rate across the Essex County Council jurisdiction, which has recorded 106,339 cases since the crisis started.

Although case numbers are still being recorded in the area, positively 1,333,761 doses of a coronavirus vaccine have now been administered across the East of England.

The hope is the quicker the vaccine can be rolled out the less unnecessary deaths there will be over what is a notoriously fatal winter period.

So far 1,050 have died at The East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Colchester Hospital, after testing positive for coronavirus.

At Clacton Hospital this figure now sits at 22, while the Fryatt Hospital in Harwich has recorded 29 Covid-related deaths in total.

The Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust has also seen 41 people die from the deadly virus and the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the likes of Braintree Community Hospital and St Peter’s Hospital in Maldon, has recorded 2,098 deaths.

Coronavirus deaths across the UK, however, have now hit a six-week low, but in total 112,798 people have lost their lives within 28 days of a positive test.

The case rate across the country has also dropped to a level similar to what it was before Christmas, and now sits at 208.6 per 100,000 people.

The gradual downturn is now resulting in many questioning what type of approach the Government will take after the current lockdown is lifted.

Boris Johnson is due to set out a ‘roadmap’ on February 22 on how the country will ease back into normality.

But in a self-shot video published on his social media pages over the weekend, Boris Johnson warned: “I want to stress that it is still early days.

“Do remember how tough it is still, how high that infection rate is, and we must work together to get it down, so that is the fundamental thing to get right.”