SWINDON'S week-on-week coronavirus case rate is rising.

Only nine new cases were confirmed around the borough in the latest government update, though Swindon has seen 70 new positive Covid-19 test results recorded in the past seven days.

This is 33 more than the previous week, which equates to a rise of 89.2 per cent.

Swindon's infection rate as of April 18 was 23.9 cases per 100,000 population, which is a slight but noticeable rise on the 20.7 figure seen in previous days.

The government said that, as of 9am on Thursday, there had been a further 2,729 lab-confirmed cases in the UK.

It brings the total to 4,398,431.