SWINDON’S coronavirus rate remains the highest in the south west, figures show.

And the town is also suffering worse rates than near neighbours like Oxfordshire and West Berkshire.

Official figures analysed by the Swindon Advertiser show that as of April 5 Swindon had a case rate of 37.4 new cases per 100,000 people.

The next worst-affected area was Bristol, with a case rate of 20.1.

Closer to home, Swindon’s case rate compared to 24.9 in Oxfordshire and 17.2 in Wiltshire.

All areas have seen coronavirus rates drop in recent weeks.

Last month, Swindon Borough Council’s director of public health Steve Maddern explained why the town may be hit worse than other areas in the south west.

READ MORE: First week with no outbreaks, says health chief

READ MORE: Graphs show Swindon has highest covid case rate in the south west

“Our rates have always been higher. Swindon is very different than the rest of the south west, so it’s difficult to compare us because when you look at the rest of the south west, it’s largely rural – and even in those urban areas like Plymouth or Bristol, the demographic is different,” he said.

“I think Swindon is a very compact town, and we have more BAME communities than the rest of the region and I think the challenge for us is how we adapt our intervention and our messaging in a really diverse way.”

On Friday, Mr Maddern said the past week had “probably” been the first week the town hadn’t registered any coronavirus outbreaks.

“I’m going to celebrate that,” he told reporters.

“I was very surprised to see my outbreak report and see that we had no issues. We’ve seen a fall in cases across all Swindon postcodes which is really encouraging.”