Covid rates continue to slow but national deaths pass 100,000
Prime Minister Boris Johnson should bring the world's leaders to Norfolk and Suffolk, says David Powles - Credit: PA
Coronavirus infection rates across Norfolk and Waveney have continued to slow, against a backdrop of a sobering national milestone.
Nationally, 100,000 people have died Covid-related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, a figure prime minister Boris Johnson said was "hard to compute the sorrow of".
During a televised media briefing on Tuesday evening, the PM confirmed the stark figure - that Covid-19 had appeared on the death certificates of more than 100,000 people.
He said: "I think on this day I should just really repeat that I am deeply sorry for every life that has been lost and, of course, as I was prime minister I take full responsibility for everything that the government has done.
"It is hard to compute the sorrow contained in that grim statistic: the years of life lost, the family gatherings not attended and for so many relatives the missed chance to even say goodbye."
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Separate figures published by statistics agencies - together with additional data on deaths in recent days - show there have been more than 115,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK where the virus has been mentioned on the death certificate.
Meanwhile, the latest figures made available by Public Health England show rates of infection across Norfolk and Waveney continuing to slow.
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For the seven days ending January 22, Norfolk's countywide average sat at 372.1 cases per 100,000 people, slightly lower than the national average of 385.5.
This figure is considerably lower than a week prior, with the rate for the seven days ending January 15 at 457.8 cases per 100,000.
Three local authority areas have rates of more than 400 cases per 100,000 people; Great Yarmouth (453), King's Lynn (406.3) and Norwich (465.2), with the latter remaining the region's worst-hit area.
As has consistently been the case throughout the pandemic, North Norfolk is the area with the slowest rate of infection, with 214.6 cases per 100,000 people.
The rates for Norfolk and Waveney for the week ending January 22 were:
Breckland: 367.9
Broadland: 354
East Suffolk: 277.8
Great Yarouth: 453
King's Lynn: 406.3
North Norfolk: 214.6
Norwich: 465.2
South Norfolk: 323.7
Norfolk overall: 372.1
