Hadleigh's collective community spirit has paid off as Covid figures for the town helped Babergh's infection rate to drop significantly.

Figures, released by Suffolk's Resilience Forum today, showed a drop in Babergh to a weekly case rate of 92.4 per 100,000, above the Suffolk average of 70.3 but below Ipswich Borough's of 142.4.

An outbreak at a Magdalen House care home in Hadleigh, followed by other confirmed cases at homes and the High School a couple of weeks ago, saw a spike in the town, which led to a special alert being put in place with increased warnings during lockdown two.

Town mayor Frank Minns called for a collective effort to stem the rise in infections and Hadleigh's confirmed case rate has dropped accordingly. He has today hailed the residents' efforts and collective spirit.

Cllr Minns said: "When the Special Alert was put in place in Hadleigh by BDC, the incidence here was given by the government as being more than 800 cases per 100,000 people.

"The latest figures for Hadleigh - from November 28 - now put that figure at fewer than 200, above the national average, but still a really heartening improvement, and testimony to the efforts of everyone in Hadleigh to get the virus back under control.

"We can all feel much safer as life returns properly to our High Street, although we mustn't forget the key rules that still apply, and feel proud that our community spirit and concern for others has achieved such a cheering result."

Along with the rest of Suffolk, Hadleigh came out of lockdown two yesterday and into Tier two, with many businesses getting back to normal and non-essential stalls will be back at the town's weekly market tomorrow.

These figures, along with this current week's which are yet to be released, will play a part in seeing if Suffolk can drop into Tier one, when a government review takes place on December 16.

Suffolk is currently just above the Tier one areas of Cornwall, Isle of Wight and the Scilly Isles. (scroll right on top image to see graphs)