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18 May 2020updated 29 Jul 2021 2:50pm

North-west close to overtaking London as epicentre of UK’s Covid-19 outbreak

By Nicu Calcea

The north-west of England is set to overtake London as the epicentre of the UK’s outbreak, latest data shows.

The region has now recorded 23,610 cases of Covid-19. It accounts for 11 per cent of the UK’s population, but 14 per cent of cases. Its numbers of new daily cases are falling slower than in London, which currenty has 16 per cent of the UK’s cases.

Our Covid-19 city and region tracker shows that daily case number continue to drop in the worst-hit regions in Europe and America, with most new cases recorded in Mexico and some South American countries.

Illinois has overtaken Massachusetts as the third-most affected region in the US, with the number of daily new cases there quickly approaching levels in New York state.

Lombardy, the most affected region of Italy, has seen more modest decreases in the number of new cases compared to the rest of the country. Italy’s shops and cafes reopened today following 10 weeks of lockdown.

Madrid has also seen a slight uptick in terms of its proportion of Spain’s new Covid-19 cases.

Monitoring the cities at the heart of the Covid-19 outbreak

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Cities, with their high population density, young and mobile demographics, and developed public transport systems, are particularly susceptible to rapidly spreading viral outbreak. Here we drill down into subnational Covid-19 figures to show which areas are seeing disproportionate numbers of Covid-19 cases.

While different countries count at different administrative levels, our chart assumes London and Madrid are “regions” in their own right. New York State includes New York City and Lombardy covers Milan. This chart is currently being updated weekly with the latest figures, although some countries have a slight delay in publishing the very latest case numbers by region or state.

Covid-19 regional comparison chart

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