The Covid-19 infection rate has increased in nearly all of the south west London boroughs over the last week, with nearly 400 new cases confirmed.

Friday's update from Public Health England of the seven-day rate of new Covid-19 cases across England show a continued national surge in cases as the country navigates a full second wave of the virus.

The new data, which shows a total of 388 cases recorded in south west London in the past week, comes as the capital was officially placed on the national Covid-19 watchlist yesterday.

The North East continues to record the worst numbers in the country, with sharp increases in their seven-day rates seeing Newcastle, Liverpool, Burnley, Bolton, Knowsley, Blackburn and Halton all record over 200 cases per 100,000 people.

Below are the full number of cases, and seven-day Covid-19 rate for the region as of September 22 (the data for the three most recent days are excluded for accuracy).

The rate is expressed as the number of new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people, and is based on tests carried out in laboratories (pillar one of the Government's testing programme) and in the wider community (pillar two).

Wandsworth currently has the highest Covid-19 rate in south west London, with a seven-day rate of 26.1, meaning over 25 people per 100,000 have tested positive for the virus this week.

The borough recorded 86 new cases in the past seven days, on top of 66 cases the week prior, whilst Lambeth recorded 81 cases, resulting in a Covid-19 rate of 24.8.

Sutton Covid-19 rate rose from 12.1 to 21.3 after recording 44 new cases, up from 25 the week before.

Kingston upon Thames recorded 37 new cases, on top of 29 cases the week prior, causing its Covid-19 rate to rise to 20.8.

Croydon recorded 67 new cases, causing its Covid-19 rate to rise from 12.2 to 17.3, meaning that six out of seven boroughs in SW London have seen a rise in new cases.

Richmond upon Thames's Covid rate is currently 15.7, whilst Merton's is 14.5 after recording 31 and 30 cases respectively, bringing the total to 388, which, while high, still remains well below the country's current hotspots which are under additional lockdown measures.

Your Local Guardian:

Elsewhere in the capital, Bexley recorded 69 new cases to bring its Covid-19 rate up to 27.8, doubling to become the highest rate in all south London.

All four SE London boroughs saw rises in cases, with Greenwich recording 58 (rate of 20.1), Lewisham 58 (19.0) and Bromley 59 (17.8).

Yesterday it was revealed by London Councils that London had been placed on the national Covid “watch list” as an area of high concern.

It comes after 620 new cases were confirmed in the capital in the last 24 hours – more than double the number at the start of the week.

Thirty-five more patients with Covid were admitted to the capital in the last 24-hour period, taking the total to 212, of which 40 are on ventilators.

Stats from SAGE also released on Friday state the both the country's and London's reproduction value (R number) was up to between 1.2 and 1.5, with the number of new infections growing by between 4% and 8% every day.