BBC News England

The Staffordshire Moorlands continues to have the highest rate of Covid-19 in the West Midlands, according to the latest figures.

The area saw its rate rise by almost 25% week-on-week in the seven days up to 18 October - to 770 new infections per 100,000 people.

It has never been higher since the pandemic started.

However, since March 2020, the link between infections and hospitalisations has been considerably weakened across the country.

While the number of cases has increased significantly in Staffordshire in recent weeks, the number of hospital admissions has only climbed slightly.

Part of the reason for this is that Covid-19 is currently more prevalent in schoolchildren than any other age group. And this group is less likely to develop serious illness.

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While the overall rate in the Staffordshire Moorlands was 752 per 100,000 people in the week up to 16 October, among 10 to 14-year-olds it stood at over 3,500.

Other primary and secondary age pupils were the next most likely to be affected.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, given the age of their parents, it is those in their early 40s in the area who were more likely to catch Covid-19 than any other adult group, with more than 1,040 new infections per 100,000 in the week up to 16 October

The Staffordshire Moorlands is not the only area to be experiencing its highest case numbers since the pandemic started .

Nearby Chase Cannock currently has a rate of 665 per 100,000 people in the week up to 18 october, which just a few weeks ago would have seen it among the very worst in England, although other areas have since risen by more.

At the peak of the first lockdown, its seven-day rolling rate officially never reached 50.