The rural area near Bristol with one of the worst…

The rural area near Bristol with one of the worst Covid rates in the country

A rural area north of Bristol is the only part of the region which falls into the most severe category for coronavirus rates.

The Government's Covid cluster map shows rates (of cases per 100,000 people) for small areas, each with about 7,000 people.

And the latest map, for Friday (September 3), shows only one area of the Bristol region is in the worst possible category, for rates higher than 800.

The small area includes three villages — Charfield, Wickwar and Iron Acton — with 74 confirmed cases and a rate of 900.2 per 100,000 people. This is a 147 per cent rise on the previous week's figure.

Although the hotspot of Charfield, Wickwar and Iron Acton is the only one which falls into the worst tier, there are some nearby areas in the second worst tier (for rates between 400 and 799).

Unusually, much of the south Gloucestershire countryside — including Thornbury North, Alveston, Olveston and Oldbury — has higher rates than the parts of south Gloucestershire nearer the city of Bristol.

For the city itself, the map shows a similar picture to the one early last month. There are 26 Bristol neighbourhoods with rates higher than 400 — which was also the case when the map from August 8 was released.

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