Huge swathes of the North East are coronavirus ‘hotspots’ and are expected to remain so for the next few weeks, according to an interactive map.

The tool, created by experts at Imperial College London, shows Darlington and surrouding areas have a "100% chance" of being a Covid hotspots as concerns rise about the number of infections.

The team at Imperial College London define a 'hotspot' as a local authority where there are more than 50 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 of the population per week.

Imperial College London said: "For future weeks, we give probabilities based on our model, which assumes a situation in which no change in interventions (e.g. local lockdowns) occur. To define weeks we use specimen dates, ie the day on which tests are taken."

Data on daily reported cases and weekly reported deaths is used along with “mathematical modelling” to report on the probability that a local authority will become a 'hotspot' in the following week.

Local authorities with a 75 to 100 percent chance of being 'hotspot' areas appear in red on a map of the UK.

By October 25, many parts of the UK show as 'hot spot' areas.

Meanwhile, the probability of the R rate increasing above one is given as 100 per cent for the week ending October 10 in most parts of the North East.

Only the Eden district of neighbouring Cumbria is not showing as having a 100 per cent chance of becoming a hotspot. It's chances are predicted to be 38 per cent.

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

Speaking last month, lead researcher Professor Axel Gandy, from the Department of Mathematics at Imperial College London, said: "COVID-19 is, unfortunately, very much still with us, but we hope this will be a useful tool for local and national governments trying to bring hotspots under control.”

The area is braced for a hard winter as it emerges that parts of the North-East are expected to face tougher lockdown restrictions. The new measures are expected to be announced tomorrow (Monday, October 12). Stay with us throughout the day for all the latest as it comes in.