North West Leicestershire saw a rise of 43 new cases when the latest Covid-19 figures were released yesterday afternoon (Wednesday).

The figures show North West Leicestershire currently has 407.3 cases per 100,000, making it 49th in the top 50 list of the worst hit parts of England, according to the latest seven-day rates.

It means the number of people testing positive in the district is now past the 1,900 mark.

This compares to 376.1 cases per 100,000 in Charnwood and 527.3 cases per 100,000 in Leicester.

But the number of new coronavirus infections across the county and city has dropped slightly again.

Some 513 cases were confirmed in Leicester and Leicestershire.

Earlier this week health secretary Matt Hancock said the impact of national lockdown should start to show in figures by the end of this week.

He explained that what happens next with national restrictions on December 2 relied on cases dropping.

There were 220 new infections identified in the city itself with the remaining 293 spread across the county.

In both Charnwood and Blaby, 62 new cases were reported, while Hinckley and Bosworth added a further 49 and North West Leicestershire 43 to rolling totals.

Oadby and Wigston, which now has a higher infection rate than Leicester, confirmed another 31 cases.

Both Melton and Harborough saw their cumulative case totals increase by 23.

A record number of daily cases were added to the local total on Monday but numbers stabilised again yesterday.

Some 1,313 new infections were recorded across the city and county at the start of the week, but the Department of Health and Public Health England said that a change to the way cases were assigned to areas was partly responsible for the spike.

The new cases, updated yesterday at 4pm, mean that the total number of cases across the city and county since the start of the pandemic area by area are :

•Leicester: 15,531

•Blaby: 2,652

•Charnwood: Unconfirmed

•Harborough: 5,758

•Hinckley and Bosworth: 2,212

•Melton: 945

•North West Leicestershire: 1,916

•Oadby and Wigston: 2,092

Latest seven-day rates showed that five areas of Leicestershire - including North West Leicestershire - now feature in the top 50 worst-hit areas across the country.

Meanwhile, two schools, one in the city and another in the county, have been forced to temporarily close because of pupils and staff catching the virus.

The situation in Leicester's hospitals has worsened with all but the most urgent operations now cancelled so staff can treat the same number of patients they were seeing in the earlier part of the pandemic.

The latest seven-day infection rates, area by area, are:

•Leicester: 527.3 cases per 100,000

•Blaby: 457 cases per 100,000

•Charnwood: 376.1 cases per 100,000

•Harborough: 336.9 cases per 100,000

•Hinckley and Bosworth: 330.6 cases per 100,000

•Melton: 425.7 cases per 100,000

•North West Leicestershire: 407.3 cases per 100,000

•Oadby and Wigston: 529.7 cases per 100,000