At the time of publishing, St Albans had 577 confirmed coronavirus cases between January 9 and January 15, down 318 compared with the previous week.

There are 593 cases per 100,000 people across the district, totalling 6,421 cases as of January 19, compared to 593 cases per 100,000 totalling 5,879 cases last week (as of January 12).

READ LAST WEEKS' STATS: District's weekly COVID-19 figures fall for first time since third national lockdown introduced

Cases across the district continue to fall, now to the extent that St Albans' coronavirus cases now sit below England’s 'average area' for the first time since before Christmas.

READ MORE: COVID-19 cases for our area surge above England's average

England's 'average area' , which currently sees 432 cases per 100,000, is the middle ranking council or local government district when ranked by cases per 100,000 people.

This comes as Office for National Statistics (ONS) and Public Health England (PHE) figures confirm that the UK have again recorded a new daily death toll high, with yesterday's (January 19) figures showing that 1,610 people died within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test.

Ten new mass-vaccination centres have also opened their doors across England to aid the government's target to administer vaccination doses to 15 million people by February 15.

RELATED STORY: Thameslink teams up with community in Harpenden to support vaccine drive

Vaccinations of the over 70s and the clinically extremely vulnerable have also begun, with those yet to have booked an appointment are encouraged not to call their GP.

St Albans’ coronavirus death toll has increased to 218 registered to January 18.

The UK’s R-number, which represents the rate of transmission, now sits between 1.2 and 1.3.

The R number represents the average number of people an infected person will pass the disease on to.

If R is below one, then the number of people contracting the disease will fall; if it is above one, the number will grow.