Covid rates in Maldon more than doubled over the month of December as the Omicron variant took a hold.

The latest figures for every local authority area in the UK show that the Covid case rate across Maldon is currently at 1,678.9 cases per 100,000 people.

The figures, for the seven days to December 31, are based on the number of people who have tested positive for Covid-19 in lab-reported tests, plus positive rapid lateral flow tests that do not have a negative confirmatory lab-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test within 72 hours.

In the seven days up to December 31 there were 1,098 cases in the area, an increase of just over 13% from the prior week.

In the seven days up to December 3, Covid case rates in the city were at 657.5 cases per 100,000 people after 430 positive cases.

But how does that compare to case rates across the rest of the country?

The worst rates in the UK are in Derry City & Strabane in Northern Ireland.

The most recent figures show that the area recorded 5,570 new Covid cases, leaving it with a rate of 3,686.1 cases per 100,000 people.

In Wales the worst Covid rates are found in Rhondda Cynon Taf, which has a case rate of 2,632 cases per 100,000 people following 6,366 new cases.

In the seven days up to December 30, the worst rate (2,430.2 cases per 100,000 people) in England was in St Helens, while the highest rate in Scotland was found in North Lanarkshire where 5,051 cases saw a case rate of 1,480.6.