Cases of COVID-19 across St Albans district have begun to decline once more, after a small rise last week.

At the time of publishing, St Albans had 27 confirmed coronavirus cases between March 13 to March 19, down 11 compared with the previous week.

There are now 18 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people across St Albans district, returning to similar levels registered a fortnight ago. Last week, this number rose to 26 cases per 100,00 residents.

As St Albans' figures begin to plateau, they now sit firmly below England's average area, where 42 cases of coronavirus are registered per 100,000 people, down from 46 last week.

A total of 7,734 cases have been recorded in St Albans up to March 23, since records began last year.

St Albans has regained its title as the area of Herts with the lowest case rate per 100,000 people. Last week, it gave way to North Herts - which had 22 cases per 100,000 - and has now further increased to 38 cases per 100,000.

Neighbouring Welwyn Hatfield has 33 cases per 100,000, with Hertsmere and Dacorum both registering 30 per 100,000 - all three showing a decrease since last week.

Across the district, 47,631 people have had at least one dose of the vaccine as of March 14, according to NHS England data from the National Immunisation Management Service.

On March 24, government data states that, as of March 22, 2,449 people across Herts are registered to have died within 28 days of their first positive coronavirus test, with 306 of those hailing from St Albans.

But, as of March 12, records show that 2,790 Herts residents have had deaths registered with COVID recorded as a cause of death. 349 of these deaths were registered in our district.

According to the government's coronavirus dashboard, 126,284 across the UK have now sadly died within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 as of March 23. A total of 148,125 deaths have been recorded in the UK with COVID-19 mentioned as a cause of death on the death certificate as of March 12.

Yesterday, people up and down the UK lit candles to remember those who have lost their lives to coronavirus on the anniversary of the first national lockdown.

UK-lights-up-in-remembrance-of-lives-lost-on-anniversary-of- (1)

The UK’s R-number, which represents the rate of transmission, sits between 0.6 and 0.9, meaning the rate of transmission is declining across the whole of the UK as the R-number sits below one.