CASES of coronavirus in Dudley have rocketed by nearly 50 per cent in the last seven days, latest figures show.

A total of 391 cases have been reported in the last seven days, according to Dudley’s Covid-19 Dashboard, compared to 263 cases recorded in the previous seven days - an increase of 48.6 per cent.

Latest figures published today (Monday October 19) show 72 cases were recorded in one day on October 12 - the highest figure ever reported in the Dudley borough.

At the height of the pandemic when the country was in lockdown - the largest number of positive cases recorded in Dudley in one day was 48, on April 18.

Stourbridge News:

The seven-day incident rate now stands at 121.6.2 cases per 100,000 people, according to figures, compared to 81.8 in the previous seven days; and 2,768 cases in total have been recorded in the borough since the pandemic began back in March and 317 people have died.

1,868 cases of coronavirus have been reported in the Black Country in the last seven days - 37 per cent more than in the previous seven days, and in the wider West Midlands region 8,511 cases have been recorded in the last seven days - 24 per cent more cases than in the previous seven days.

Councillor Patrick Harley, Dudley Council's leader, and the authority's director of public health, Bal Kaur, spoke out on Friday urging people to avoid meeting others outside their household or bubble in other homes or gardens to help slow the spread of Covid-19.

Dudley is in the lowest tier of the new Covid-19 risk categories - classified as level one or medium risk - which means the rule of six still applies indoors and outdoors, and pubs, bars and restaurants must close at 10pm.

But residents have been warned, with figures continuing to rise sharply, that further formal restrictions could be placed on the borough.