Suffolk now has the lowest Covid-19 infection rate in the East of England - with no coronavirus-related death recorded in the county for the past seven days.

The county council announced that as of October 20, in total Suffolk has 53.2 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 people – the lowest rate in the East of England where the average rate is 77.2 per 100,000.

Despite this good news cases continued to rise in all districts of Suffolk apart from Babergh in the week preceding October 19.

In Babergh they fell from 66.3 cases per 100,000 people in the seven days before October 12 to 57.6 per 100,000 the following week.

The smallest rise came in East Suffolk were cases went from 42.5 to 44.5 per 100,000 people.

While the largest came in Ipswich as the rate jumped from 46.8 to 65.7 per 100,000.

In Essex, cases fell in Uttlesford but rose dramatically in Colchester from 64.7 to 104.8.

The number of cases in Suffolk remains far below the average for England which rose from 166.2 per 100,000 to 187.4.

As of October 19 the R number for the East of England is between 1.3-1.5.