These are the latest figures on the number of infections across Wiltshire, including in schools and care homes, recorded in the latest weekly period.

They were given out by Kate Blackburn, Wiltshire Council's director for public health, during Tuesday's (March 23) media briefing.

Cases

In the past week, 136 new cases were recorded across the county (excluding Swindon).

That's a fall from 175 the previous week.

The rate of new cases has now dropped to 27.2 per 100,000 compared to 35.2 the week before.

The average for England is 56.8.

Deaths

Since the pandemic began, 814 registered deaths where Covid was mentioned on the death certificate have been recorded in Wiltshire up to March 5.

That's an increase of 11 deaths compared to last week's figures.

Wiltshire's mortality rate is 162.8 per 100,000, well below the national average of 222.6.

You can see how many deaths were reported in Salisbury here.

Care homes

In the week ending on March 14, 12 care homes reported new Covid cases compared to nine and 12 in the previous two weeks.

Mrs Blackburn says rates of cases among residents and staff remain "at low levels" and are expected to remain static due to infections being picked up through regular testing.

Three more Covid deaths have been reported in care homes in the past week, compared to five last week.

Schools

A total of 23 unique educational settings have reported positive cases.

The number of pupils currently self-isolating is 1,211.

Mrs Blackburn says this figure is "liable to change" as children who are now taking lateral flow tests in their own home are allowed back in the event of confirmatory PCR tests coming back negative.

Around 400 pupils in Amesbury are currently at home after four positive cases were identified at The Stonehenge School.

Most affected age group 

Due to regular testing, rates of infection in children aged 10-19 have increased.

However, Mrs Blackburn says the rise has been "gradual" and in line with what they were expecting two weeks after the reopening of schools.

School-age children now have the highest rates across the rest of the population.

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