Atherton South West emerges as Greater Manchester's new coronavirus hotspot

Atherton South West saw 78 positive cases recorded during the week ending October 21, according to Public Health England figures.

This made it the worst affected place in the region over the seven day period, with an infection rate of 961.2 cases per 100,000 people.

For four consecutive weeks, the number of infections in Atherton South West, which represents roughly the same area as the Atherleigh council ward, has continually increased.

In the week up to October 14, 51 cases were recorded, an increase from 33 on the previous seven days. The reason for the spike in infection in the areas is not yet clear.

This compares to just 44 swabs came back positive in neighbouring Atherton North in the weekend to October 21, at a rate of 499 per 100,000 people.

Also ranking high on the list for positive cases is Pemberton North in sixth with 55 positive cases and an infection rate of 832 cases per 100,000 people. While Standish South and North and Pemberton South also rank highly on the list.

Wigan borough's latest coronavirus infection rate of 561.4 cases per 100,000 people stands at almost three times the national average.

The figure represents a huge rise from when Greater Manchester was first placed under local restrictions on July 31, with Wigan having a seven-day coronavirus infection rate of less than 10 cases per 100,000, below the national average.

At that time, local leaders successfully argued that Wigan should be released from the restrictions as rates remained the lowest in Greater Manchester during most of August.

But since mid-September, the rate has continued to climb and has led to Wigan, along with the rest of Greater Manchester, being placed under Tier 3 restrictions.

NHS data shows that there has been an increase in the number of hospital patients dying with Covid-19 at the Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust in recent weeks.

The NHS statistics last week showed there were no coronavirus deaths at all at the trust in the three months between July 2 - October 2 but so far this month the trust has reported 41 Covid-19 deaths.