Covid cases are falling fast across Kent - but just one district has a lower infection rate than the national average.

Since the turn of the month, a welcome downturn has seen the number of positive tests in the county drop by almost 20% in a week.

Only Dartford has a lower infection rate than the national average

But case rates remain high in most areas, and have yet to fall to the levels seen in some parts of the country.

Only Dartford has an infection rate lower than England's.

The west Kent borough is recording 667 weekly cases per 100,000 people, compared to the national average of 794.

At the other end of the scale, Maidstone has the highest rate in the county, with 1,090 - despite cases falling 10% in a week.

Positive tests are falling fastest in Swale, where a 29% drop has left its infection rate at 911.

England's infection rate has fallen faster than Kent's

Patient numbers have dropped fast in Medway

While cases numbers are tumbling in all areas of the county, the same can not be said for patient numbers.

The number of people with the virus in Kent's hospitals has fallen from 332 to 272 in a week.

But at half of the county's trusts Covid patients numbers have actually gone up.

In East Kent they jumped from 118 to 122, and in Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells from 56 to 62.

However, these small increases were in stark contrast to significant drops in Medway, from 93 to 38, and Dartford and Gravesham, from 65 to 50.

The number of Kent Covid patients on a ventilator increased from five to nine.