THREE more coronavirus deaths were recorded in Oxford over the last week.

A total of 212 people had died in the area when the UK coronavirus dashboard was updated yesterday (July 27) – up from 209 the previous week.

They were among 23,739 deaths recorded across the South East. The figures include anyone who died within 28 days of a positive test result for Covid-19, and whose usual residence was in Oxford.

Meanwhile, the number of covid cases in Oxfordshire went down in the past week, with 1227 cases recorded in the seven days up to July 22, a 39.7 per cent decrease, putting the infection rate at 176.1 per 100,000 of the population.

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In Oxford, the number of people who tested positive was 268, down from 423 in the previous week.

The highest number of cases was recorded in Oxford Central, where 27 people tested positive, putting the infection rate at 144.7 per 100,000 of the population

Cases for other areas are as follows:

  • North Central Oxford, 9
  • East Central Oxford, 15
  • Headington, 24
  • Summertown, 22
  • Marston, 14
  • Osney, Jericho & Port Meadow, 14
  • Grandpont & New Hinksey, 15
  • Churchill, 6
  • Cowley North, 24
  • Cowley South & Iffley, 13
  • Iffley Fields, 9
  • Blackbird Leys, 13
  • Littlemore & Rose Hill, 14
  • Greater Leys, 10

However, the number of tests – including confirmed positive, negative or void PCR and LFD tests – reported in Oxford is considerably lower than it was earlier this year.

The latest data available shows that a total of 559 tests was reported on July 15, while the number of tests reported on January 15 was 4,058.

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On average, there were 545 reported tests in the week before July 12, while in January the average was 4,405.

Oxford Mail: Government data on reported tests throughout the pandemicGovernment data on reported tests throughout the pandemic

The current wave is being driven by the coronavirus subvariants Omicron BA.4 and BA.5, which are more transmissible than previous strains.

Omicron BA.5 is now the dominant variant of coronavirus in the country, the UK Health Security Agency said on Friday.

BA.5 was first identified in April this year and was soon found to be more transmissable than previous forms of the virus.

The data is published by the Government on a seven-day rolling toll and these are the latest figures available.

In the latest figures, the virus can be tracked to postcode level, revealing exactly where people have tested positive for coronavirus over the last week.

Covid cases figures for local authorities in the county are as follows:

  • Vale of White Horse, 255
  • West Oxfordshire, 209
  • South Oxfordshire, 241
  • Cherwell, 254

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This story was written by Anna Colivicchi, she joined the team this year and covers health stories for the Oxfordshire papers. 

Get in touch with her by emailing: Anna.colivicchi@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @AnnaColivicchi