THE number of new cases of Covid-19 reported each day in the UK has fallen for the fifth day in a row, new figures show.

A total of 29,173 cases were reported by the government on Sunday, down from the 48,161 recorded a week ago on July 18.

It is the fifth day in a row that the number of daily reported cases has dropped, with average daily cases down 15% week on week.

The last time cases fell for five consecutive days was between February 5 and 9.

However, it is too soon for the data to show any impact from the ending of legal restrictions in England last Monday (July 19) due to the time lag between people becoming infected and getting tested.

Meanwhile, the latest case rates for every local authority in England show that infection levels were rising in the majority of areas last week.

Bromsgrove's Covid cases have increased from 492 new cases reported from July 7 to July 14 to 624 new cases reported in the week July 15 to July 21.

The figures, for the seven days to July 21, are based on the number of people who have tested positive for Covid-19 in either a lab-reported or rapid lateral flow test, by specimen date.

Data for the most recent four days (July 22-25) has been excluded as it is incomplete and does not reflect the true number of cases.

Of the 315 local areas in England, 270 (86%) have seen a week-on-week rise in rates, 43 (14%) have seen a fall, and two remain unchanged.