The number of people infected with Covid-19 has increased in East Suffolk to one in 83 people, new data suggests.

This is significantly lower than the England average, where about one in 55 people who were not in care homes, hospitals or other institutional settings had the virus in the week ending January 17.

This is an improvement compared to the Christmas period, where one in 50 had the bug.

The data, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), estimates the percentage of the population to have tested positive for coronavirus based on nose and throat swabs across a period of six days. The most recent data available looks at the period from January 12 to January 17.

In this data, West Suffolk, Babergh, Mid Suffolk, Ipswich and the Essex district of Tendring are all measured as one.

The East Suffolk area - the former Waveney and Suffolk Coastal districts - are measured separately.

In the last full infection survey published two weeks ago, one in 50 people had the virus in England.

In East Suffolk, this number was much lower at 0.8% of the population, equating to one in 125 people.

Now, despite the lockdown measures in place, this has risen to 1.2% in the Waveney and Suffolk Coastal districts, meaning around one in 83 people currently have the disease in East Suffolk.

In the larger area of Suffolk (which also includes Tendring), 1.0% of the population tested positive for coronavirus - equating to around one in 100 people, according to the ONS's latest data.

This is a slight drop from the previous infection survey, where 1.07% received positive tests, but still equates to roughly the same number.

The weekly rolling infection rate - which looks at the confirmed number of Covid cases for Suffolk - is in decline in all areas, however some places in East Suffolk, Mid Suffolk and north Essex saw a higher number of fresh cases between January 11 and 17 compared to the previous seven days.

This data is based on tests carried out in laboratories (pillar one of the Government’s testing programme) and in the wider community (pillar two).

Rendlesham, Orford and Hollelsey saw the most new infections in Suffolk with 115, meaning an infection rate of 1,004.3 cases per 100,000 people. This is partly due to an outbreak at the prison.

Also in East Suffolk, Yoxford, Wenhaston and Walberswick saw 47 new cases compared to just 17 the week before. The infection rate now stands at 760.6 per 100,000 people.

The data shows that Suffolk continues to have a lower infection rate than other areas of the country, but numbers are still high.