Covid-19 rates in Wigan fall amid regional and national increases

Wigan had 516 new cases identified in the seven days between December 12 and December 18, a rate of 157 per 100,000 people.

This is the fourth-lowest figure in Greater Manchester and the rise in cases elsewhere is also illustrated by the fact it is lower than the North West average of 176.3 per 100,000 and well below the England average of 317.2 per 100,000 residents.

Wigan also had a lower case rate than neighbouring Warrington, West Lancashire and Chorley.

Across the borough 14 of the 25 wards saw decreases in cases during the seven-day period from December 10 to December 16 compared to the previous week.

Seven wards saw increases and four saw no change from the previous week.

The wards which had rising numbers of cases were Orrell, Worsley Mesnes, Astley Mosley Common, Leigh East, Bryn, Abram, and Tyldesley.

Aspull, New Springs and Whelley again had the highest rate of cases for the latest week, but did see a decrease on the number of cases in the previous week.

Equal second-highest were Winstanley, which also saw a decrease, and Orrell, where case numbers have gone up.

More positively, in terms of overall cases numbers in Wigan continue to go down.

The latest figure of 518 cases, recorded for the week ending December 18, was the lowest since mid-September and marked the seventh-straight week of declining case numbers in the borough.

The number of deaths registered in Wigan mentioning Covid-19 for the latest week, which runs up to December 11, was 30, a decrease of 10 from the previous week.

However, these figures come as case numbers and rates in other parts of the country surge with major concerns about a more contagious strain of Covid-19.

Health secretary Matt Hancock announced swathes of England would be moving into higher tiers from the start of Boxing Day on Wednesday afternoon.

Wigan, like all of Greater Manchester, remains in Tier 3 but is classed as a Very High Risk area.

The local contact tracing teams have successfully managed 93 per cent of contacts in all the cases escalated to them.

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