Covid-19 case rates increase in Wigan as new variant becomes more common

There were 1,611 new cases identified in the borough in the seven-day period between January 2 and January 8, a rate of 490.2 per 100,000 people.

Of the 10 boroughs in Greater Manchester only Trafford had a higher rate.

However, the Wigan rate is lower than the regional one for the North West of 643.1 cases per 100,000 people and the national one for England at 651.8 per 100,000 residents.

The borough's rate is also lower than the one in neighbouring West Lancashire and significantly below St Helens and Warrington which both had rates of more than 800 cases per 100,000 people between January 2 and January 8.

The case rate in the borough has increased for the past three weeks.

Health experts say the new variant, which is more easily transmitted, now accounts for the majority of Covid-19 cases seen in the borough.

Cases are also rising across the borough with 22 of 25 wards seeing an increase in the most recent week, which ran from December 31 to January 6.

Lowton East again had the highest rate of cases for the latest week, with Shevington with Lower Ground next.

Standish with Langtree saw the largest increase from the previous week, with a rise of 134 per cent, followed by Winstanley where rates went up by 121 per cent.

Two other wards, Leigh East and Atherton, also saw their cases more than double in the latest week.

The three wards where numbers declined from the previous week were Astley Mosley Common, Leigh West and Orrell.

The latest weekly case total for the borough as a whole, 1,611, is the highest seen since early November and a 38 per cent jump from the previous week's figure.

As of January 1 there have been 765 deaths registered for Wigan residents that mention Covid-19, with 19 in the latest week. This is down two from the previous week.

The R rate for the North West, which indicates if the disease outbreak if getting bigger or not, has also risen slightly.

The range for the latest week is 1 to 1.4, whereas for the previous week it was 0.9 to 1.1.

Local contact tracing teams had successfully managed 93 per cent of people in all the cases escalated to them on January 12.

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