Reported coronavirus cases rose sharply locally and statewide in the week ending Jan. 5.
In The Sun Chronicle’s 10-community area, the increase was 51%.
The communities include Attleboro, Foxboro, Mansfield, Norfolk, North Attleboro, Norton, Plainville, Rehoboth, Seekonk and Wrentham.
The actual number of cases being reported increased from 178 in the week ending Dec. 29, to 269 in the week ending Jan. 5, which is a total of 91 cases.
The figures show only reported cases, meaning those stricken visited a doctor, urgent care or hospital. It does not account for the many cases that go unreported to health officials.
The 269 cases is the most recorded in six months since the week ending June 16, when the number came in at 263.
Statewide, the number of cases also showed a marked increase as area hospitals deal with yet another strain of the disease.
A new variant, known as XBB.1.5, has quickly been spreading in the United States over the past several weeks with the Centers for Disease Control estimating last week that it made up 72 percent of new cases in the Northeast and 27.6 percent of cases across the country.
In the week ending Dec. 29, there were 8,327 new reported cases of coronavirus.
In the week ending Jan. 5, there were 10,075 new cases, which was an increase of 1,748 cases, or 21%.
Cases statewide have not hit the 10,000 mark since the week ending July 22, when the number was 10,250.
The increase in cases, however, is still a long way from the records set one year ago when in the week ending Jan. 13, 2022, the local number was 3,463 and the statewide one was 132,557.
In the week ending Jan. 5, Attleboro had the most new cases with 79, which could be expected because of the 10 area communities it has the largest population.
North Attleboro, the second most populated community, was second with 45 new cases.
Norfolk and Rehoboth had the fewest number of new cases with nine each.