More than 90 per cent of England's towns and cities have seen coronavirus rates rise in a week - with some hotspots seeing the number of infections treble.
It comes amid fears a third national lockdown could be introduced immediately after Christmas in a desperate effort to control a new mutant strain of the virus.
Alarming data from Public Health England reveals that Thurrock in Essex has the highest Covid-19 rate in the country after the number of weekly cases there rocketed from 893 to 2,192.
Meanwhile second-placed Havering, in London - which is also under the highest level of restrictions - also saw its infection rate double.
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