Encouraging figures reveal that 64 per cent of places saw infection rates drop in the seven days to Monday. But the number of new cases is going up in the country's worst hotspots, with Bolton, Blackburn and Bedford among the local authority areas where the coronavirus rate is rising. Public Health England data shows that 97 of 315 areas saw an increase in people testing positive compared to the previous week, while 202 recorded a fall. In the past seven days there have been 16,743 confirmed infections across the UK, the Department of Health said - a 6.1 per cent increase on the previous week. And he said he would give "as much information" as possible by the end of the month - which suggests an announcement next week.

Source: Daily Mirror May 21, 2021 17:51 UTC