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

There have been more than 900,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus so far in the UK and more than 45,000 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 24,701 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) has 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 UK

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

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 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.

In England, a three-tier lockdown system has been introduced. On Saturday, South Yorkshire joined Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Liverpool City Region in the highest level, tier three. Warrington moved into tier three on Tuesday and the whole of Nottinghamshire will be placed in tier three on Friday, with some additional measures.

Stoke-on-Trent, Coventry and Slough are the most recent additions to tier two.

Scotland is due to move to a five-tier system of virus alert levels from 2 November. On Monday, the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed that most of central Scotland, including Edinburgh and Glasgow, is likely to be in tier three (the second-highest tier).

Wales has started a national lockdown, or circuit-breaker, meaning most non-essential businesses are closed and people are only able to leave home for limited reasons, until 9 November.

Northern Ireland has also introduced additional restrictions, including an extended two-week half term for schools.

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

Daily deaths continuing to rise

The government announced 310 further deaths on Wednesday.

Of those deaths, 236 were in England, there were 37 in Wales, 28 in Scotland and nine 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 40,000.

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 almost 59,000 deaths by 16 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 66,500 by 16 October.

There were 11,928 deaths registered in the UK in the week of 16 October, according to the latest figures reported by the Office for National Statistics.

Some 761 of these deaths involved Covid-19 - up by 287, or 61%, on the previous week's number.

This represents 8% of the peak of 9,495 deaths recorded in a week, reached on 17 April.

The average number of deaths registered each week normally rises gradually at this time of year, by about 200 deaths a week, but the growth this week is faster than normal, up by 569 in a week.

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 1.2 - 1.4.

The estimate for England is 1.2-1.4, while for Scotland it is 1.2-1.5. The estimate for Wales is 1.1-1.4 and in Northern Ireland it is 1.4.

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