Covid-19 in London

Covid-19 in London

The prevalence of new cases in the 32 boroughs of Greater London

Some older browsers/devices may be unable to load the interactive visualisation with London details. Assuming you can view it, you can examine the evolution of the case rates by clicking (or tapping) on the timeline at the bottom of the chart. Then you can slide either end point of the timeline if you wish. You can add a comparison with some reporting area(s) outside London by clicking “⊕ Add region” and selecting your desired option(s). You may want to simplify the chart by removing some of the boroughs, which can be achieved by clicking “⊕ Add region” and deselecting some of the checked boxes.

 
Extracted from Our World in Data’s visu­al­i­sa­tions of the pandemic in the UK, the inter­ac­tive chart above shows the latest preva­lence of covid-19 by London borough. The new case rates in the worst affected boroughs are around three times higher than those in the least affected boroughs.

Geograph­ical factors have clearly played a part in the vari­a­tions: the county of Essex was partic­u­larly badly affected in December 2020 and London boroughs closer to Essex undoubt­edly expe­ri­enced high rates of local trans­mis­sion. However, one shouldn’t overlook the addi­tional factor of relative depri­va­tion. The boroughs at the top of the table tend to be signif­i­cantly poorer than those at the bottom.

Case rates in most parts of London – and across much of the UK – are now falling but they’re still among the highest in the world. Even if this downward trend is main­tained, it may be another ten days to a fortnight before the decline in cases is reflected in a reduction in death rates. However, there are already early signs that London hospital admis­sions are beginning to decline.

Text last updated 15 January 2021. The charts are auto­mat­i­cally updated daily, usually around 5pm, UK time.