Half of local areas in the UK now have Covid-19 case rates below 50 per 100,000 people, new data shows.
In what is being seen as a major turnaround for the country, 190 out of 380 local authority areas (LEAs) have now dropped under the symbolic level - compared with only six just a month ago.
A handful of areas are even recording rates that are now in single figures, according to analysis compiled by the PA news agency for the seven days to Friday, March 5.
The steep fall suggests the various lockdowns in place across the country are continuing to play a key role in reducing the number of new reported cases of coronavirus.
This decline is mirrored across all four UK nations.
How the four nations compare
Northern Ireland: 65.0 cases per 100,000 overall
Two of the 11 LEAs in NI are below 50. Newry, Mourne & Down is at 40.8 and Fermanagh & Omagh is at 33.2.
Scotland: 62.9 cases per 100,000 overall
More than half of LEAs in Scotland are now below 50, including the Shetland Islands (4.4) and the Orkney Islands (no recent cases).
England: 60.8 per 100,000 overall
The highest rate in England at the peak of the second wave was 1,635.5 in the London borough of Barking & Dagenham, but this has now dropped to just 56.8. The highest rate now, for anywhere in the UK, is 149.2 in South Derbyshire.
Wales: 42.8 per 100,000 overall
The majority of LEAs in Wales are now below the symbolic case rate of 50 per 100,000, meaning it currently has the lowest rate overall. Ceredigion, for example, is at just 9.6
All figures have been calculated by the PA news agency from the latest health agency data (seven days to Friday, March 5).
