Covid positivity rates in Sussex: Proportion of people testing positive

The new government data looks at the proportion of people who test positive for Covid-19 through a PCR test.

As the number of people taking PCR tests is steadily rising, so is the number of people testing positive.

The positivity rate is the percentage of people who have tested positive for the virus out of everyone who has been tested. This rate gives us an indication of how many people are infected with the virus and how it is spreading in that area.

Here’s how Sussex did in terms of positivity rate in the seven days to September 24:

Crawley – 6.8 per cent

Arun – 5.9 per cent

Wealden – 5.8 per cent

Horsham – 5.3 per cent

Worthing – 5.2 per cent

Brighton and Hove – 5.1 per cent

Chichester – 4.6 per cent

Mid Sussex – 4.5 per cent

Rother – 4.1 per cent

Eastbourne – 4 per cent

Lewes – 3.8 per cent

Hastings – 3 per cent

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says Covid-19 is under control if up to five per cent of tests are positive – as you can see half of the areas in Sussex fall below this percentage.

Positivity rates are much lower in the South of England compared to the rest of the country.

As you can see from the bar graph, three regions were significantly lower on average in terms of the positivity rate in the seven days to September 24 – London, the South East and the South West.

Only 51 councils across England have a positivity rate of five per cent or lower in the seven days to September 24. Here’s the percentage of councils within each region that fell at five per cent or lower:

West Midlands – 3.3 per cent

South West – 24.1 per cent

South East – 26.9 per cent

London – 59.4 per cent

East of England – 13.3 per cent

Regions where no councils fell at five per cent or lower – Yorkshire and Humber, East Midlands, North East, and North West.

Kettering, in the East Midlands, had the highest rate at 15.4 per cent in the seven days to September 24. Westminster in London was lowest at two per cent.