Little change in latest Covid-19 case rates in Wigan

There were 315 new cases identified in the seven days between March 6 and March 12 , a rate of 95.8 per 100,000 people.

This was the fifth-highest rate among the 10 local authorities in Greater Manchester.y

However, it was also higher than the North West rate of 75.1 cases per 100,000 people and the England one of 58.6 per 100,000 residents.

Wigan's rate was also above the ones seen in neighbouring boroughs St Helens, Warrington, West Lancashire and Chorley.

In more positive news, Wigan's case rate among over-60s was 29.4 per 100,000 people.

This was the second-lowest in Greater Manchester.

However, numbers are rising in more of the 25 wards across the borough.

The tracker showed 11 wards had a week-on-week case increase for the latest data, compared to just three the previous week.

Pemberton had the highest rate of cases for the latest week, followed by Douglas.

Douglas also saw the largest increase from the previous week, with a 150 per cent rise, followed by Pemberton where the rate went up by 86 per cent.

Wigan's health protection team said six primary schools and three secondary schools reported at least one positive case of Covid-19 between March 3 and March 9.

There were also positive cases at one college, one early-years setting and one nursery.

As of March 16, there were 22 Covid-positive patients in the borough's hospitals.

There were six deaths registered in Wigan with Covid-19 mentioned on the certificate in the most recent week up to March 5, a decline of four from the previous figure.

The JPIMedia Data Unit has also been tracking the vaccine roll-out across the 40 MSOAs which Wigan is divided into for the purposes of official statistics.

Using population estimates it can be suggested that all MSOAs now have at least 90 per cent of over-70s with at least one dose of a vaccine.

Around half of the MSOAs have now probably managed to get the first jab to the entire over-70s cohort.

In 12 of the borough's MSOAs, including Ashton in Makerfield West, Orrell and Longshaw, Shevington and Astley, Blackmoor and Mosley Common, at least half of adults over 16 have received their first dose.

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