There are now 42 neighbourhoods in Kent with infection rates over 400, according to Public Health England data.

Areas like these have mostly been seen in Swale and Thanet over the last few weeks, but have now branched out into other districts and boroughs.

An infection rate of 400+ is the highest colour-coded rate displayed on Public Health England's site and was around the rate many Northern areas had when going into tier three lockdowns last month.

The districts and boroughs with these highly infected areas include Swale, Thanet, Canterbury, Dover, Medway, Gravesham, Dartford and Maidstone.

Sheppey East currently has the highest infection rate at 1871.5 with 162 cases. The ward now has the highest number of coronavirus cases in the country.

Newington is the ward with the highest infection rate in Thanet with 59 cases bringing the rate to 662.8.

Of the 42, West Kingsdown in Sevenoaks had the lowest infection rate at 401.6 and 24 cases.

Many of these areas have seen a dramatic increase between October 17 and November 14, with six seeing cases increase by 1000% (rising tenfold) or more.

For 18 of the areas we are not able to gauge how much cases have increased by.

This is because wards with fewer than three cases have their data suppressed to protect the identities of patients - and many of the areas on this list fell under this category just a month ago.

On October 20, just 13 areas had an infection rate over 400 and at the time Sheppey East Cllr Padmini Nissanga said many were treating the pandemic 'as a joke.'

Today, Swale Council has called an emergency meeting to discuss the alarming rise in cases.

Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP, Gordon Henderson, recently said 'it's no coincidence' that areas in 'deep deprivation' such as those in Swale, Medway and Thanet are the worst hit by Covid-19.

Overall, Kent and Medway currently has an infection rate of 285.1 and 5,303 cases recorded in the last week.

Though data shows a very slight plateau, it's still far too early to tell whether the growth in cases is slowing.

This was echoed by Andrew Scott-Clark, director of public health in Kent, earlier this week. He also warned many areas in the county should not expect to return to tier one rules when they come out of lockdown next month.

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