THE latest Covid infection rates for each part of the region have been released - as the Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to announce the easing of lockdown restrictions.
Eleven out of fourteen council areas across the North-East and North Yorkshire have seen a fall in the number of new Covid cases in the past week.
Latest Public Health England data, which shows the picture in the week leading to February 16, compared to February 9, showed infection rates dropped by hundreds.
However, three areas have reported a small rise in infections with one area recording an increase of 23 new cases in the past week.
Later today, the PM will announce the road map in exiting the third national lockdown with schools set to reopen and changes to household mixing next month.
SEE MORE: Live updates as Boris Johnson to announce the easing of lockdown restrictions
The PM is also expected to announce that the country will not be returning to tiered-lockdown system as more receive their first dose of the Covid vaccine.
But in the North-East, the majority of areas have seen a fall in new cases when compared with the previous week.
The downwards trend has seen hundreds fewer cases reported with Sunderland, County Durham and Gateshead seeing the largest decline.
The Covid infection rate is based on the number of confirmed cases in the past seven days, divided by the area's population and multiplied by 100,000.
How the infection rate compares across the North-East and North Yorkshire:
The figures are from the seven days to February 16, compared with the rate in the seven days to February 9.
1. MIDDLESBROUGH
Number cases this week: 448 (down 22)
Covid infection rate: 317.8 cases per 100,000 people
Cases are DOWN 4.7 per cent
2. STOCKTON
Number cases this week: 400 (down 44)
Covid infection rate: 202.7 cases per 100,000 people
Cases are DOWN 9.9 per cent
3. SUNDERLAND
Number cases this week: 535 (down 193)
Covid infection rate: 192.7 cases per 100,000 people
Cases are DOWN 26.5 per cent
4. DARLINGTON
Number cases this week: 191 (down 28)
Covid infection rate: 178.8 cases per 100,000 people
Cases are DOWN 12.8 per cent
5. COUNTY DURHAM
Number cases this week: 825 (down 130)
Covid infection rate: 155.6 cases per 100,000 people
Cases are DOWN 13.6 per cent
6. SOUTH TYNESIDE
Number cases this week: 216 (down 43)
Covid infection rate: 143.1 cases per 100,000 people
Cases are DOWN 16.6 per cent
7. GATESHEAD
Number cases this week: 232 (down 101)
Covid infection rate: 114.8 cases per 100,000 people
Cases are DOWN 30.3 per cent
8. NORTHUMBERLAND
Number cases this week: 355 (down 76)
Covid infection rate: 110.1 cases per 100,000 people
Cases are DOWN 17.6 per cent
9. RICHMONDSHIRE
Number cases this week: 59 (down 10)
Covid infection rate: 109.8 cases per 100,000 people
Cases are DOWN 14.5 per cent
10. NEWCASTLE
Number cases this week: 325 (down 59)
Covid infection rate: 107.3 cases per 100,000 people
Cases are DOWN 15.4 per cent
11. HAMBLETON
Number cases this week: 77 (down 68)
Covid infection rate: 84.1 cases per 100,000 people
Cases are DOWN 46.9 per cent
Where cases are going up
1. REDCAR AND CLEVELAND
Number cases this week: 272 (up 13)
Covid infection rate: 198.3 cases per 100,000 people
Cases are UP 5.0 per cent
2. HARTLEPOOL
Number cases this week: 173 (up 2)
Covid infection rate: 184.7 cases per 100,000 people
Cases are UP 1.2 per cent
3. NORTH TYNESIDE
Number cases this week: 342 (up 23)
Covid infection rate: 164.5 cases per 100,000 people
Cases are UP 7.2 per cent
The expected easing of lockdown restrictions over the next few weeks comes as the Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said the road map was about the “gradual reopening of the whole of England” rather than a regional lifting of restrictions.
Asked if the tier system would return, he said: “I think because the way this new variant actually took hold, which has become the dominant variant, the Kent variant, in the United Kingdom, infection rates around the country pretty much rose to similar, very high, unsustainable levels.
“So the view is very much that this is about a gradual reopening of the whole of England, not regional.”
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