MAPPED: All 9,610 coronavirus cases in South Yorkshire, as new figures are released

There have been 3,931 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Sheffield, 1,956 in Doncaster, 1,868 in Barnsley and 1,855 in Rotherham since the pandemic began – a total of 9,610, according to the latest statistics published by Public Health England today, Friday, July 3.

The new figures are a huge leap from those previously reported because they now include not just the results of so-called pillar one tests, carried out in labs for hospitals and other healthcare settings, but also pillar two tests in the wider community.

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The vast majority of new tests are now being carried out in the community, meaning these latest figures – representing an increase of nearly 4,000 cases in the region from those published last week – give a much more accurate picture of how the disease is being spread than those released before.

Leicester, where a local lockdown was introduced this week, has easily the highest rate in England, with 1,051.5 confirmed cases per 100,000 population.

Barnsley is fourth in the table, with 761.8 cases per 100,000 people; Rotherham (700.9) is seventh, Sheffield (674.8) ninth and Doncaster (629.9) 20th.

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Those figures are for the total number of cases confirmed since the pandemic began, meaning they could be skewed by the amount of testing taking place during the early stages of the outbreak.

Public Health England’s weekly tally of new cases showed that in the week ending June 28, there were 24.4 additional cases confirmed per 100,000 population in Sheffield – a slight increase on the previous week.

In Doncaster, the weekly infection rate also rose, from 17.4 per 100,000 to 21.3, but in Barnsley (35.1) and Rotherham (26.1) it fell.

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Based on those figures, Barnsley has the third highest rate of new infections in England, with Rotherham seventh, Sheffield eighth and Doncaster 10th in the table.

Greg Fell, Sheffield’s director of public health, said the city was now seeing around 16 new coronavirus infections per day, or around 112 each week.

But he said the disease was still circulating in Sheffield, where it has claimed at least 423 lives, and warned that people must remain vigilant.