Newry, Mourne & Down in Northern Ireland has the highest rate in the UK, with 2,997 new cases in the seven days to 17 January – the equivalent of 1,649.7 per 100,000 people.
The latest Covid hotspots have been revealed as cases continue to drop across nearly all areas in the UK.
This is down from a rate of 1,942.5 for the seven days to 10 January.
Peterborough has the second highest rate, down from 1,651.3 to 1,599.5, with 3,241 new cases.
South Tyneside has the third highest rate, down from 2,537.5 to 1,578.7, with 2,386 new cases.
Newport has the highest rate in Wales (682.7, down from 1,167.2); and East Lothian has the highest rate in Scotland (679.3, down from 1,147.4).
Just two of the 377 local areas in the UK have seen a week-on-week rise in rates: Broadland in Norfolk (up from 1,011.9 to 1,061.2) and Winchester in Hampshire (1,018.9 to 1030.8).
It comes after Boris Johnson announced this week that plan B measures to curb the spread of the Omicron variant would be lifted.
Many people resumed commuting to offices on Thursday after guidance to work from home in England was scrapped.
An increase in road congestion was recorded in London and Manchester, while demand for public transport and footfall near offices was also up.
The prime minister told MPs in the Commons on Wednesday that work-from-home guidance would be dropped immediately and rules on face coverings in classrooms would also be scrapped in England from Thursday.
Other measures, including the requirement to wear face masks on public transport and in shops, will end next Thursday.
The legal requirement for people with coronavirus to self-isolate will also be allowed to lapse when the regulations expire on 24 March, and that date could be brought forward.
Supply Scarce, Demand High For At-Home Rapid COVID Tests
A lot of people are searching for at-home rapid COVID-19 tests as wait times for PCR tests top one hour in the Denver metro area and sometimes results are delayed for days due to the increased demand.
Dr. Kristin Holmes is an owner and pharmacist at Capitol Heights Pharmacy in Denver, “These COVID-19 tests are in such high demand I can’t explain to you how insane it is.”
She gets them in stock, notifies her customers, and then quickly they are gone.
“I sent out the text about 1:15, by 10 p.m. we had sold 500 tests,” Dr. Holmes said.
The demand for the tests is so strong, a sort of “black market” is appearing online. People sell them on Craigslist, sometimes at up to twice the normal price.
And there is competition among stores to get ahold of the at-home antigen rapid tests from their wholesalers.
“Like, how can we get some tests, how many, what brand are they.”
Customers grab them when they can. Andrew Ross picked up four boxes with two tests each. Each box cost $32.
“I’ve been checking online they are hard to come by so when I got the text, I jumped on it,” Ross said.
Capitol Heights is expecting to have 1,500 boxes of tests and plan to sit outside at 12th and Madison in Denver on Saturday, Jan. 15, selling them until they run out. Business is so brisk there they are seeking another certified pharmacy technician.
