Coronavirus infection rates continue to march upwards in Epping Forest and Harlow as more Delta variant cases are identified.

Between June 17 – 24, the latest available accurate data, there were 88 new Covid-19 infections recorded in Epping Forest which equates to an infection rate of 66.8 – the highest it has been since the end of February.

The rate, which the week before stood at 55.4 after 73 new cases were posted, is expressed as the number of new cases per 100,000 people.

In Harlow the outlook is similar. The rate, again at its highest point in four months, is now 63.2 rising from 52.8 after 55 new cases were confirmed.

Of the 315 local areas in England, 92 per cent have seen a rise in rates.

The UK Health Security Agency said vaccines are breaking the link between cases and hospitalisations nationally, but urged people to continue to be cautious.

Public Health England figures show 90 cases of the Delta variant – first identified in India – had been recorded in Epping Forest by June 23.

That was 39 more than the 51 cases recorded the week before.

Those identified in the latest week were among at least 4,932 cases of the variant recorded across the East of England – the eighth-worst affected of England's nine regions.

The North West continued to have the highest numbers identified, with 38,189 Delta variant cases recorded there.

Across the UK, 35,204 more cases were recorded in the last week to reach a total of 111,157 – a 46 per cent increase.

Of these, 42 are the so-called Delta plus variant, which India’s health ministry has said spreads more easily, binds more easily to lung cells and is potentially resistant to some drug therapy which can help neutralise the virus.

But while the Delta variant now accounts for around 95 per cent of new cases sequenced in the UK, PHE said vaccines continue to have a “crucial effect on hospital admission and death”.

A further 514 people were admitted to hospital in England with Covid-19 in the week up to June 21 – 304 were unvaccinated.

Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, said: “Through the success of our vaccination programme, data suggest we have begun to break the link between cases and hospitalisations. This is hugely encouraging news, but we cannot become complacent."