SCIENTISTS have created a new map to predict the UK's Covid-19 hotspots over the next couple of weeks - and it's not good news for Bracknell.

The team behind the website, from Imperial College London, define a hotspot as an area with more than 50 cases of Covid per 100,000 people.

READ MORE: Map reveals areas worst hit by coronavirus

Bracknell is currently above that level and officials are battling to reduce the number of infections.

The site also provides estimates for each local authority in England, Scotland and Wales on whether cases are likely to be increasing or decreasing in the following week and the probability of R(t) being greater than 1 in the following week.

Bracknell News:

In the case of Bracknell it paints a pretty bleak picture.

The district remains a hotspot and there are signs of increasing infections in the surrounding area.

Bracknell has a probability rating of between 1 per cent that the reproduction number - the R rate - is going to be above one.

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The reproduction number R indicates the number of people each infected person will pass the virus onto. An R larger than 1 indicates the outbreak is not under control and cases will continue to increase.

More worrying for the Government, the map predicts surging infection rates across the country by the end of this month.

Bracknell News:

The prediction shows there is a 95 per cent chance of new infections increasing in Bracknell.

An increase in cases can also be due to increased testing.

Figures also show the number of recorded coronavirus cases in Bracknell Forest increased by four over the last 24 hours.

Public Health England figures show that 438 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 by 9am on Wednesday (September 9) in Bracknell Forest, up from 434 the same time on Tuesday.