Covid-19 case rate in Wigan still rising

There were 1,689 new cases of Covid-19 identified in Wigan between June 26 and July 2, the tracker showed.

This gives a rate of 513.9 cases per 100,000 people.

Wigan's case rate is also higher than the figure for the North West of 406.3 cases per 100,000 people and the England rate of 249.6 per 100,000.

The over-60s weekly incidence rate for Wigan is 106.6 cases per 100,000 residents, the fourth-highest of the 10 Greater Manchester areas.

The tracker shows the volume of Covid-19 cases in the borough's schools also continues to be high.

Between June 23 and June 29 at least one confirmed case among pupils or staff was recorded at 50 primary schools, 18 secondary schools, three colleges, eight nurseries and early years' settings and two special schools.

Across the borough case numbers have been going up, with 23 of the 25 wards seeing an increase in the latest week, running from June 24 to June 30, compared to the previous one.

The only wards where cases went down were Leigh West and Wigan West.

Leigh East had the highest rate of cases for the latest week, followed by Astley Mosley Common. Orrell, Aspull, Ince and Douglas wards saw the highest relative increases from the previous week.

There were 104 cases recorded in Leigh East, with 84 in Astley Mosley Common.

The council's tracker also said the Delta variant accounts for the majority of cases in the borough.

There was also a slight increase in the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 in the latest week, though the figures do remain low compared to the numbers of cases.

In total 16 Covid-positive patients were being looked after by the borough's hospital trust as of July 6.

One death with the novel coronavirus mentioned on the certificate was recorded in the borough during the last week of available data, which ran up to June 25.

This was one fewer than was registered in the previous week.

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