BASINGSTOKE is set to be one the least infect areas in the UK by next week.

A tool, devised by Imperial College London, predicts the parts of the country likely to see more than 50 cases per week, which it classes as a 'hotspot.'

Currently, the map indicates that the Basingstoke and Deane local authority area has an 88 per cent chance of recording more than 50 cases per week.

But by next Sunday, August 15, the probability of recording more than 50 cases per week drops to 48 per cent.

If the predictions are correct, it would make Basingstoke the least affected region in Hampshire and the fifth least affected area in the UK after Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross, Carlisle and Shropshire.

Surrounding local authority areas are predicted to have significantly higher infection rates with each council area having higher than an 80 per cent chance of recording more than 50 cases.

A total of 11,548 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Basingstoke and Deane when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on August 2 (Monday), up from 11,406 on Friday.

The rate of infection in Basingstoke and Deane now stands at 6,540 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average of 9,157.

However, there were no new coronavirus deaths recorded over the weekend in Basingstoke and Deane.

The figures also show that more than two-thirds of people in Basingstoke and Deane have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 107,487 people had received both jabs by Sunday, August 1– 70 per cent of those aged 18 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.