Chelmsford is among 25 areas in the UK with the lowest Covid infection rates latest data has shown. 

The latest information available, for the seven days to May 30, shows the city has an infection rate of 5 cases per 100,000 people. 

In that week nine new cases were confirmed. 

A week earlier the rate was 10.1 with 18 new cases. 

Chelmsford comes 24th on the list of places with the lowest infection rate in the country. 

It comes week after people living in Chelmsford were urged to get a rapid Covid test after a number of cases of the Indian variant, now known as Delta, were discovered.

Read more >> Coronavirus hotspots map shows all of Chelmsford is now almost 'Covid free'

Essex County Council confirmed "a small number" of households in Chelmsford had tested positive for the new B.1.617.2 coronavirus variant.

Figures published by Public Health England show 27 cases of the Delta variant were recorded in Chelmsford by June 2.

They are among at least 1,223 cases of the VOC-21APR-02 mutation in the East of England – the third-worst affected of England's nine regions.

The latest data for hospital admissions shows the Mid and South Essex Trust was caring for seven coronavirus patients in hospital as of Tuesday.

NHS England data shows the number of people being treated in hospital for Covid-19 by 8am on June 1 was up from four on the same day the previous week.

The number of beds at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust occupied by people who tested positive for Covid-19 decreased by 50% in the last four weeks – 28 days ago, there were 14.

Across England there were 776 people in hospital with Covid as of June 1, with 123 of them in mechanical ventilation beds.