Covid positivity rates in Sussex: Proportion of people testing positive
The new government data looks at the proportion of people who test positive for Covid-19 through a PCR test.
As the number of people taking PCR tests is steadily rising, so is the number of people testing positive.
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Hide AdThe positivity rate is the percentage of people who have tested positive for the virus out of everyone who has been tested. This rate gives us an indication of how many people are infected with the virus and how it is spreading in that area.
Here’s how Sussex did in terms of positivity rate in the seven days to September 24:
Crawley – 6.8 per cent
Arun – 5.9 per cent
Wealden – 5.8 per cent
Horsham – 5.3 per cent
Worthing – 5.2 per cent
Brighton and Hove – 5.1 per cent
Chichester – 4.6 per cent
Mid Sussex – 4.5 per cent
Rother – 4.1 per cent
Eastbourne – 4 per cent
Lewes – 3.8 per cent
Hastings – 3 per cent
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says Covid-19 is under control if up to five per cent of tests are positive – as you can see half of the areas in Sussex fall below this percentage.
Positivity rates are much lower in the South of England compared to the rest of the country.
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Hide AdAs you can see from the bar graph, three regions were significantly lower on average in terms of the positivity rate in the seven days to September 24 – London, the South East and the South West.
Only 51 councils across England have a positivity rate of five per cent or lower in the seven days to September 24. Here’s the percentage of councils within each region that fell at five per cent or lower:
West Midlands – 3.3 per cent
South West – 24.1 per cent
South East – 26.9 per cent
London – 59.4 per cent
East of England – 13.3 per cent
Regions where no councils fell at five per cent or lower – Yorkshire and Humber, East Midlands, North East, and North West.
Kettering, in the East Midlands, had the highest rate at 15.4 per cent in the seven days to September 24. Westminster in London was lowest at two per cent.