Covid-19 in the UK: How many coronavirus cases are there in your area?

There have been more than 700,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus so far in the UK and more than 40,000 people have died, government figures show.

However, these figures include only people who have died within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus and other measures suggest the number of deaths is higher.

Find out how the pandemic has affected your area and how it compares with the national average:

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New cases remain high after sharp increase

The government announced 26,688 confirmed cases on Wednesday.

After a steady decline since the first peak in April, confirmed cases started rising again in July, with the rate of growth increasing sharply from the end of August.

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) said it is "almost certain that the epidemic continues to grow exponentially across the country".

However, cases in the community may still be lower than during the first peak as widespread testing was not available until mid-May, meaning the number of cases recorded at the time was only a fraction of the people with coronavirus.

Hospital admissions vary around the UK

The most recent figures show hospital admission rates for Covid-19 patients rising most quickly in the North West and the North East and Yorkshire region.

With rising Covid-19 admissions, there have been warnings that hospitals will have to cut back core services.

Where are cases rising the most?

Cases are rising quickly across large parts of northern England, with other spikes in areas of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The orange areas on the map below are those currently seeing the highest number of cases per 100,000 people.

Restrictions have been tightened in many areas of the UK in recent weeks - including across the whole of Scotland and Northern Ireland, and areas of Wales.

In England, a three-tier lockdown system has been introduced, and from Friday, Greater Manchester will join neighbouring Lancashire and Liverpool City Region in tier three, referred to as the "very high alert" category. South Yorkshire will be placed under tier three restrictions from Saturday.Scotland is due to move to a five-tier system of virus alert levels from 2 November, while the Welsh government has announced a national lockdown from Friday 23 October to 9 November.

People in Wales will be told to stay at home and pubs, restaurants, hotels and non-essential shops must shut.

In an effort to prevent the spread of infection, those from Northern Ireland, parts of Scotland and areas of England in tiers two and three are banned from travelling to Wales.

Stricter national restrictions will apply across Wales from Friday.

Northern Ireland has announced additional restrictions, including an extended two-week half term for schools, and pubs, restaurants, hotels, cinemas, cafes and a range of other businesses have been told to close until at least Friday 13 November.

London, Essex, York, Elmbridge, Barrow-in-Furness, North East Derbyshire, Erewash and Chesterfield moved into tier two measures on Saturday.

At Tuesday's press briefing, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that while the government was trying to avoid a national lockdown, "we don't rule anything out".

However Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van Tam said national measures would be "inappropriate" and "very difficult to justify for some communities" where levels of infection are much lower.

You can check the Covid-19 restrictions where you live here.

Daily deaths starting to rise

The government announced 191 further deaths on Wednesday.

Of those deaths, 144 were in England, 28 in Scotland, 14 in Wales and five in Northern Ireland.

Three times as many people have died from Covid-19 than from flu and pneumonia in England and Wales this year, according to official figures.

Between January and August 2020, there were 48,168 deaths due to Covid-19 compared to 13,600 from pneumonia. Only 394 were due to flu.

Rules were amended over the summer to include deaths in the coronavirus total only if they occurred within 28 days of a positive test. Previously in England, all deaths after a positive test were included.

England has seen the majority of UK deaths from Covid-19. Using the 28-day cut-off, there have been more than 39,000.

Overall death toll could be more than 65,000

When looking at the overall death toll from coronavirus, official figures count deaths in three different ways.

Government figures count people who tested positive for coronavirus and died within 28 days.

But there are two other measures.

The first includes all deaths where coronavirus was mentioned on the death certificate, even if the person had not been tested for the virus. The most recent figures suggest there had been more than 58,000 deaths by 9 October.

The second method looks at all UK deaths over and above the number usually expected for the time of year - known as excess deaths. This measure shows the death toll was more than 65,000 by 9 October.

There were 11,359 deaths registered in the UK in the week to 9 October, according to the latest figures reported by the Office for National Stat

Some 474 of these deaths involved Covid-19 - up by 131, or 38%, on the previous week's number.

However this represents only 5% of the peak of 9,495 deaths recorded in a week, reached on 17 April.

What is the R number in the UK?

The "R number" is the average number of people an infected person will pass the disease on to.

If R is below one, then the number of people contracting the disease will fall; if it is above one, the number will grow.

On Friday, the government said its estimate for the R number across the whole of the UK was 1.3-1.5.

The estimate for England is 1.2-1.4, while for Scotland it is 1.3-1.6. The estimate for Wales is 1.0-1.4 and in Northern Ireland it is 1.4-1.8.

The government has said in the past that the R number is one of the most important factors in making policy decisions.