Covid case rates in the hard-hit North West of England have risen to their highest levels in three months.
The region saw the largest increase nationally as Bolton in Greater Manchester and Blackburn with Darwen in Lancashire continue to battle fresh outbreaks.
While all regions have recorded a rise, the North West is seeing the biggest spike in case numbers as health authorities race to tackle the spread of the Indian variant and boost vaccination efforts.
The region had 87.4 cases per 100,000 people in the seven days to May 30, up week-on-week from 53.7.
This is the highest for the region since the week ending February 28, and also the steepest of any region in England.
According to the latest weekly surveillance report from Public Health England (PHE), the South West has the lowest rate at 9.4, which was up very slightly week-on-week from 9.1.
It comes as PHE confirmed on Thursday that the Indian variant had overtaken the Kent strain to become the dominant Covid strain in the UK, as more than 5,000 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours.
New infections have topped 3,000 every day for the past week and officials have also noted hospitalisations increasing in the worst-affected hotspots like Bolton.
Case rates in England among all age groups have risen, with the highest rate among 10 to 19-year-olds, the PHE found.
In this group there were 72.3 cases per 100,000 people in the seven days to May 30, up week-on-week from 55.1.
The second highest rate is among 20 to 29-year-olds, up from 31.6 to 52.0.
This is also the age group to see the biggest week-on-week increase.
PHE said the number of reported acute respiratory incidents in the past week had risen compared with the previous week "with the most notable increase in educational settings incidents".
It said Covid-19 was identified in the majority of those cases.
The UK recorded a zero death toll day for the first time since last summer on Tuesday.
The milestone followed the Bank Holiday weekend, and came as officials confirmed three-quarters of all adults in the UK had reeived at least one jab.
The PHE added that a decrease in deaths with coronavirus is "likely to reflect the impact of both social and physical distancing measures and the vaccination programme".
A total of 12,431 cases of the Indian variant, also known as the Delta variant, have been confirmed in the UK up to June 2, PHE also revealed today.
The figure was up 79% from the previous week's total of 6,959.
Dr Jeff Barrett, director of the Covid-19 Genomics Initiative at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said the Nepal mutation of the 'delta' variant first detected in India has also been observed in other variants including the South African strain.
He said it "is believed to be part of why that variant (South African) is less well neutralised by vaccines".
Dr Barrett added that because of this possibility and because the Indian variant appears more transmissible than the variant first detected in South Africa, scientists are monitoring it carefully.
He explained this Indian variant plus the K417N mutation has been seen in numerous countries, including the UK, Portugal, the USA, India, Nepal and Japan.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced this week the government is in commercial negotiations with AstraZeneca to buy its jab that has been specially adapted to tackle the South Africa variant.
