Coronavirus cases rose by 30% in the last week as the impact of lifting restrictions began to show.

However, vaccinations are still on the up, as almost 100,000 more people were jabbed in the last week.

Dr Satvinder Lall, clinical director for the Medway South Primary Care Network, discusses their milestone of administering 50,000 jabs

Kent and Medway saw 309 cases recorded in the week ending April 24 - up from 239 the week before - bringing the infection rate to 16.6.

Nine out of 13 areas in the county saw a rise in cases. Only Canterbury, Maidstone, Sevenoaks and Swale saw a drop.

A few areas saw cases more than double, including Gravesham increasing by 210%, Thanet by 105.9% and Dover by 200%.

Gravesham has the highest infection rate of 29 after seeing cases triple in the last week, recording a total of 31.

Folkestone and Hythe maintains the lowest infection rate of 7.1 after cases rose by 33.3%.

However, due to a slight drop before this week's rise, cases have only risen by 5.5% across Kent since restrictions were significantly eased on April 12 - from 293 to 309.

It is important to note the numbers are still very low compared to peaks during the second wave and even slight increases in cases resulted in a high rise in percentage terms.

Andrew Scott-Clark, Kent's director of public health, said: “We will see some small increases in cases across Kent as COVID-19 continues to circulate and there are now regular testing programmes in schools, workplaces and at Kent’s symptom-free test sites.

"Home testing kits are also now available at hundreds of pharmacies across Kent. This means these cases are being identified early and people are able to self-isolate, rather than unknowingly continuing to spread Covid-19.

"We continue to see household and care home clusters and, at this stage in the pandemic, even small increases influence local rates significantly.

"We are also seeing increased cases amongst the adolescent population through increased testing and some case transmission.

"We continue to urge secondary school pupils and their families to all test twice weekly in order to break the chain of transmission.

“What the figures clearly show is that we cannot be complacent. The latest case figures indicate that the virus continues to circulate.

"There are two key things that people should now be doing; twice weekly testing will isolate cases and ensure they are contained; and everyone should carry on observing the guidance around social distancing – hands, face, space and fresh air.

"The rule of six means people should continue to limit their social interactions for now and this is vital along with regular testing to make sure we aren’t seeing widespread outbreaks."

The good news is vaccinations are also up, with 11% more being administered on the week ending April 25.

Of the 1,295,712 vaccines given in total in Kent, 97,325 were from last week compared to 87,727 the week before.

First doses made up 19.7% or 19,167 of last week's vaccinations while second doses made up 80.3% or 78,158 as the NHS moves to fully vaccinate the elderly and vulnerable.

Over 93% of all over-65's have been vaccinated with the first dose.

People aged 50 and under are being urged by the Health Secretary to get their vaccine so the UK can “continue on the path back to normality” as 42-year-olds are invited to have the vaccine.

Folkestone and Hythe currently have largest percentage of residents vaccinated with the first dose at 70% while Canterbury and Dartford have the lowest vaccinations at 59%.

Medway was singled out for special praise for its vaccine programme at the Downing Street press conference on Wednesday as 62% of their residents having had a first dose.

Dr Satvinder Lall, clinical director for the Medway South Primary Care Network (PCN), said on Thursday: "It's hard work but it's worth it.

"I say this to the teams every day: we're making history and people will look back and wonder what did they do in Medway and Swale.

"We couldn't do it without the support of our volunteers and our staff and particularly Dr Peter Gilbert, who's set up this whole thing up and the logistics.

"We've had hiccups along the way but we're in a really good place overall.

"I did the daily pep talk and mentioned we're at the 50,000 mark and everyone gave a big woop of joy – clinicians and volunteers.

"So when we put it into context, the hard work has paid off and I don't think people expected to deliver 50,000 by this stage."

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