Gosforth remains the epicentre of the latest Covid spike in the North East - while the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron is now to blame for 18 local areas seeing more than one in 100 people infected.
Rates of the virus across the area are still rising - though the speed of that rise has begun to slow - and while cases in each of the North East's local authority areas are still up, all seven have seen lower rises than previously. However, three areas of Gosforth remain the centre of the Covid-19 outbreak in our area.
Coxlodge & West Gosforth (1,319 cases per 100,000 people over seven days), North Gosforth (1277.1) and South Gosforth (1,256.1) have the highest prevalence of the virus in the region. Meanwhile, the Windy Nook & Whitehills area in Gateshead has the lowest rate (163.4).
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In Newcastle , the rate is up to 641.7 over the seven days until March 19 - that equates to 1,969 cases and a 33.4% week-on-week increase. The picture is similar in Gateshead , where was a rate of 619.5. However, there the increase in cases - to 1,251 over the week - was more pronounced at 70.7%, but that's still a small decline compared to the last few days.
The North East's more rural areas are also still hard hit. In County Durham , there were 633.2 per 100,000 people and a total of 3,376 cases - the most in the area. However, like elsewhere the rise in cases - 58.4% - is substantially less than in recent days. Northumberland has the region's highest case rate - it's 792.1 - and equates to 2,565 cases over the week.
North Tyneside has the second highest rate of Covid-19 in the North East - it's 773.7 and shows a 56.4% to 1,616 cases over the seven days to March 19. On the other side of the Tyne in South Tyneside, that borough continues to have the least Covid in circulation - but with a rising rate of 502.2, and 759 new cases, it remains a real issue.
Sunderland 's situation is similar, with case rate of 628 and 1,745 new cases. That's a 66.8% increase compared to the week before.
Speaking this week, medics at the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust warned we are facing another "two to three weeks" of disruption and pressure caused by this latest subvariant of the Omicron Covid-19 strain. Sir James Mackey - the Trust's chief exec - told a hospital board meeting: ""The last couple of weeks have been incredibly difficult again.
"There's been increasing Covid prevalence, albeit lower impact disease, it's a milder version of disease and we have a largely vaccinated population. But largely there's been an impact on absence and disruption. I think we can expect another two or three weeks of that being quite difficult."
These are the ten areas with the highest Covid-19 rates, according to NHS data for the week ending March 19:
Coxlodge & West Gosforth - 137 new cases, 1,319 cases per 100,000
South Gosforth - 122 new cases, 1,277.1 cases per 100,000
North Gosforth - 128 new cases, 1,256.1 cases per 100,000
West Monkseaton - 72 new cases, 1,230.6 cases per 100,000
North Cramlington - 63 new cases, 1225.4 cases per 100,000
Shiremoor North & South Wellfield - 89 new cases, 1,157 cases per 100,000
Morpeth South & West - 75 new cases, 1,117 cases per 100,000
Alnwick - 74 new cases, 1,089 cases per 100,000
Kingston Park & Dinnington - 148 new cases, 1,070.3 cases per 100,000
East Benton - 67 new cases, 1,068.6 cases per 100,000
