Coronavirus cases rates have jumped in Stroud, rising alongside every area of the South West.

Five of the 17 reporting areas in the region recorded a case rate higher than the national average.

Stroud recorded 74 cases per 100,000 people in the week ending June 19, up from 41 in the week before – an increase of 80 per cent.

The worst case rates were in Bristol, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury, which reported 170 cases per 100,000, 159 and 154 respectively.

The national average case rate is 101 per 100,000 people.

Gloucester also broke triple figures with 147 cases per 100,000, and Bath and North East Somerset with 108.

The best case rates were recorded in South Somerset, with 22, followed by Mendip with 42 and Somerset West and Taunton with 52 (though Mendip saw a 366 per cent rise).

The figures, provided by Public Health England, come just days after the country was supposed to relax almost all Covid restrictions.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi defended the Government’s decision to delay the final stage of the road map, as he said the additional four weeks to July 19 would give the NHS more time to get “those remaining jabs in arms”.

“We have already given first doses to almost half of all 25 to 29-year-olds in England and only a week after the programme opened to all adults on Friday, one-third of people aged between 18 and 24 have had their first dose.

“To all of the young people who have stepped up, I want to say a huge thank you. You have protected yourself, you have protected your families, and you have protected your communities.”

More than 16,000 people tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday, the highest daily case rate since February 4.

On June 19, 211 patients were admitted to hospital with Covid-19, the highest number of people since April 7, but far below the peak of the second wave when more than 4,500 patients were admitted in a single day.