Cases of coronavirus have jumped up in all four south east London borough days after the lockdown restrictions were eased, bringing fears of possible Tier 3 restrictions by Christmas.

Infection rates for the virus have been falling steadily for the past few weeks, both in south east London and the rest of the capital, but today's figures from Public Health England paint a different picture.

The number of new cases of Covid-19 risen significantly over the past seven days, and Bexley now sits in the top 30 in the country for rates of infection.

The spike has coincided with the end of the November national lockdown and the beginning of Tier 2 restrictions in London.

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This has seen restaurants and food-serving pubs reopen, markets restart and fans return to football games, as well as all shops and hair dressers reopen their doors.

Two-thirds of London's boroughs recorded a rise in coronavirus cases in the week up to December 3, the most up-to-date data available, including all four south east London boroughs.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has warned residents that they must "continue to follow the rules" amid the rise in cases, and some are suggesting the capital could move to Tier 3 restrictions when the tiers are reviewed the week before Christmas.

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The rolling seven-day figures of new cases of Covid-19 are based on laboratory and community testing, and shows the current rate of infection, expressed per 100,000 people, for each local authority in England.

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And Bexley, leading the way in Covid-19 cases for several weeks now, has recorded the highest infection rate in the region.

The borough's 258.6 is also a significant rise from 208.6 last week, and there were 642 cases recorded in the past week.

Bromley has seen an even larger rise in infection rate, jumping from 140.2 to 181.7 after 604 virus cases were reported.

In Greenwich, the infection rate is not far behind, shooting from 144.5 to 189.3.

The borough recorded 545 cases, whilst neighbouring Lewisham reported 382 new cases.

However, Lewisham's infection rate remains low at 124.9, although this is still up from 100.7 last week.

Nearby, basically all other boroughs also saw rises in cases, with Croydon up from 128.3 to 159.3, Merton up from 159.8 to 182.0 and Dartford up from 235.3 to 274.4.

Of the 315 local areas in England, 127 have seen a rise in case rates, 185 have seen a fall, and three are unchanged.


Swale in Kent has the highest rate in England, with 907 new cases recorded in the seven days to December 4 - the equivalent of 604.3 cases per 100,000 people.

This is up from 555.7 in the seven days to November 27.

Medway has the second highest rate, up from 518.7 to 590.2, with 1,644 new cases.

Thanet, also in Kent, is in third place, where the rate has dropped slightly from 455.2 to 432.6, with 614 new cases.

The areas with the biggest week-on-week jumps are Runnymede (up from 155.4 to 285.2, with 255 new cases); Basildon (up from 293.3 to 406.5, with 761 new cases); and Brentwood (up from 155.8 to 266.2, with 205 new cases).

The list has been calculated by the PA news agency, based on Public Health England data published on December 8 on the Government's coronavirus dashboard.