Watford has the seventh highest Covid infection rate in England currently, official Government coronavirus statistics show.

Nearly 1,400 residents in the town tested positive for the virus in the seven days to January 21.

This is equivalent to an infection rate of 1441.7 cases per 100,000 population - the 7th highest in England and 13th highest out of 377 UK local authorities.

Despite its high ranking, the current rate in Watford is lower than the rate of around 2,000 over Christmas and New Year and it is not too dissimilar to most other local authorities in the country.

In recent weeks, the number of new cases has declined nationally but there are signs over the last week of an uptake in cases across Hertfordshire.

In Watford, there was an increase of 263 cases in the seven days to January 21 compared to the seven days to January 14.

The areas of Watford that recorded the highest number of Covid cases between January 14 and 20 were Central Watford (163 cases), Garston (161), and West Watford and Holywell each with 142.

The biggest week-on-week increases were recorded in Garston (+58) and Cassiobury (+42).

Data published on the Covid dashboard website suggests the rise in cases in Watford is due to an outbreak in primary school-aged children, where the infection rate for that age group doubled in just a few days to over 3,000.

The age group that has seen the most dramatic decline in infection rate in Watford is those in their 20s. Rates in age groups above 60 are all below 1,000.

Although Plan B is being scrapped by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Hertfordshire's director of public health is urging residents to "remain cautious and not to be complacent", stressing "the pandemic has not ended".

Jim McManus added: "We are still seeing high numbers of cases and people needing hospital treatment in Hertfordshire.

"We are urging people who have not been vaccinated or had their booster jabs, to do so as soon as possible, it remains the best way to protect themselves and others from getting seriously ill.

"NHS data shows that unvaccinated people who get COVID-19 are about eight times more likely to be hospitalised than those who are fully vaccinated."

In Watford, around 23 per cent of people aged over 12 are unvaccinated while just under 50 per cent are not boosted.

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust was caring for 90 Covid patients on January - the latest date of data available - down from 96 on January 9, but three times higher than Christmas.

The trust has now surpassed 1,000 deaths for patients who tested positive for Covid-19 with 21 deaths recorded in January taking the total to 1,007.

The figures, for the seven days to January 21, are based on the number of people who have tested positive for Covid-19 in a lab-reported test, plus: – in England, positive rapid lateral flow tests that do not have a negative confirmatory lab-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test within 72 hours;

Of the 377 local areas in the UK, 203 (54%) have seen a week-on-week rise in rates and 174 (46%) have seen a fall.