Wigan among top 10 highest Covid-19 case rates in England

There were 1,338 new cases of Covid-19 identified in the borough between June 19 and June 25, the tracker shows.

This gives Wigan a rate of 407.1 cases per 100,000 residents.

It is also above the North West rate of 302.3 cases per 100,000 people and significantly higher than the rate of 148.9 cases per 100,000 residents for England as a whole.

The council says the volume of cases in the borough's schools has also increased significantly over the past two weeks.

In total 40 primary schools, 14 secondary schools, three colleges, an early years setting, two nurseries and a special school recorded at least one positive case among pupils or staff between June 16 and June 22.

At the other end of the age spectrum the case rate among Wigan's over-60s is 72.3 per 100,000 people for the period from June 19 to June 25.

This is the fourth-highest figure recorded among the 10 boroughs in Greater Manchester.

Across Wigan and Leigh 15 of the 25 council wards saw an increase in cases in the latest week of data, which runs from June 17 to June 23, compared to the previous one.

Leigh East had the highest rate of cases for the latest week, followed by Astley Mosley Common. Leigh East, Aspull, New Springs and Whelley and Shevington with Lower Ground saw the highest relative increases from the previous week.

There were 82 cases in Leigh East and 71 in Astley Mosley Common.

However, hospitalisations remain low, with 14 Covid-positive patients in the borough's hospitals on June 29.

This is also lower than the figure recorded the previous week.

There were two death certificates mentioning the novel coronavirus registered in Wigan in the latest week of data, which ran up to June 18.

In total, there have been 1,014 deaths registered in the borough with Covid-19 mentioned on the certificates from the start of the pandemic up to June 18,

Of those deaths, 81 per cent occurred in hospital, 13 per cent in care homes and four per cent at home.

The current situation in the borough means it is classed as an enhanced response area and an outbreak management surge plan has been updated and put into action.

The council says the Delta variant now accounts for the majority of Covid-19 cases in Wigan.

Local tracing teams had successfully managed 93 per cent of contacts in all the cases escalated to them as of June 29.

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