More than 600 coronavirus cases have been recorded in Chelmsford in the past week.

The latest figures show there were 675 new infections in the city in the seven days ending July 8.

That was 387 more than the week before and means the infection rate now stands at 378.4 cases per 100,000 people.

Cases have risen in all parts of Chelmsford, with Great Leighs and the Walthams seeing the biggest rise in new infections.

The area has recorded 70 cases in the latest seven-day period, 56 more than the week before.

Cases have also soared in Boreham and Little Baddow, Great Baddow North and East, and Great Baddow South and West.

Chelmsford Weekly News: Latest coronavirus hotspots map for ChelmsfordLatest coronavirus hotspots map for Chelmsford

Here is how many cases have been recorded in each neighbourhood in the borough in the week ending July 8:

Great Leighs & the Walthams – 70

Boreham & Little Baddow – 57

Great Baddow South & West – 51

Central Chelmsford - 45

Moulsham West – 38

Great Baddow North & East – 37

South Broomfield – 32

Chelmer Village – 31

Waterhouse Lane & Admirals Park – 31

Springfield North – 29

Writtle & Highwood – 25

Springfield South & Coronation Park – 21

Galleywood – 21

Margaretting, Stock & Ramsden – 15

Melbourne – 14

Coronavirus cases are rising in the majority of areas in the UK right now, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson has confirmed many of the remaining Covid restrictions in England will be lifted from Monday.

Mr Johnson urged people to remain cautious and warned the pandemic was not over.

Calum Semple, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) and professor of child health and outbreak medicine at the University of Liverpool, has meanwhile said he thought measures such as mask-wearing could be reintroduced over the winter to deal with a spike in Covid cases.

It comes as a fellow Sage member, Professor Graham Medley, said mask-wearing “probably won’t do any good” unless it is mandatory, adding that the current Covid wave could last six weeks at its peak.

Speaking in a personal capacity, Professor Semple said the “winter bump” of Covid cases would be “miserable” due to a mixture of Covid-19 and the respiratory viruses that have not been seen for the last year as people stayed at home.

Asked on BBC Breakfast whether restrictions would come back, he said: “Possibly, and it may just be about reinforcing some common sense.

“It may be bringing back some mask-wearing in certain environments, but I don’t foresee the lockdowns or the school suspensions that we’ve seen.”

Prof Semple said he thought “there’s no right time to unlock” but suggested it was “quite realistic” that there could be up to 2,000 hospital admissions per day, as predicted in central modelling assumptions submitted to Sage.

He added: “My big message to people now is sure we’ve weakened the link between community cases and hospital cases, but that link is not broken… it’s the people that are not vaccinated that are still coming to harm.”