CORONAVIRUS cases in Bromsgrove experienced a startling upsurge last week - as experts warned the danger from the pandemic is far from over.

The number of positive Covid-19 tests in the district leapt to 22 in the week ending September 4 according to Public Health England figures - more than tripling from the comparatively low figure of six cases the week before.

The increase mirrors the national scene where cases are growing, while the number of hospital admissions and deaths from the disease remain low.

Bromsgrove's death toll from the virus stands at 136, the highest in Worcestershire, but the vast majority of those occurred in April and May.

Indeed, in the past two months, figures show only one person in Bromsgrove has died with Covid.

Nonetheless, England's deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van Tam says he is worried people have stopped taking the disease and social distancing guidelines seriously.

In an interview with the BBC, he said: "It is of great concern at this point. We have been able to relax a bit over the summer and the disease levels have been really quite low.

"But the latest figures really show that as much as people might like to say 'oh, it's gone away', this hasn't gone away.

"It's a virus we're going to have to live with and if we're not careful and we don't take this incredibly seriously from this point, we're going to have a bumpy ride over the next few months.

"People have relaxed too much and now is the time for us to realise that this is a continuing threat.

"It's all very well saying that hospital admissions are at a very low level in the UK, which is true, but if you look further into the European Union, you can see that where case numbers rise, initially in the younger parts of the population, they do, in turn, filter through and start to give elevated rates of disease and hospital admissions in the older age groups.

"We know that then becomes a serious public health problem.

"So that's my concern, if we don't get on top of this, if people don't start to take this seriously again, there is a risk that that's where we will end up."