Two thirds of places in England see rise in cases in past week
by Tom WilliamsTwo thirds of all local authority areas in England saw a rise in coronavirus cases in the last week, new data has revealed.
Severely affected places like Bolton and Blackburn that had appeared to have turned a corner just a few weeks ago saw some of the sharpest rises, according to an analysis of official government figures.
Every one of the country’s 315 local authorities saw at least one case in the seven days to September 10 and 210 saw an increase compared to the week before. Only 91 areas saw infection rates decrease while 14 were unchanged.
In Bolton, 552 new cases were recorded in the seven days to September 10 – the equivalent of 192 per 100,000 people. This is the highest rate in England and is up from 126.2 in the seven days to September 3.
The Greater Manchester town was nearly taken out of the northern lockdown at the end of August after infection rates fell below 20 per 100,000 but Matt Hancock changed his mind at the last minute.
Since then, it’s now seen the strictest restrictions introduced of anywhere in the country including a 10pm curfew placed on bars and restaurants.
On Friday, a barbers was closed down and four takeaways were fined for breaking the rules. Bolton councillor Hilary Fairclough warned businesses to expect a ‘zero tolerance’ approach.
In Blackburn with Darwen, the infection rate has doubled in a week from 61.5 to 118.2 with 177 new cases. The infection rate had been going down in the Lancashire towns but now seems to be going in the opposite direction.
In neighbouring Hyndburn, the rate has risen from 43.2 to 114.8, with 93 new cases.
The weekly local figures reflect the situation nationally where coronavirus cases have been rapidly increasing since the start of the month.
Oadby and Wigston in Leicestershire, which were removed from the Government’s watchlist on Friday, recorded a quadrupling in cases from 24.6 to 114 per 100,000 in the past week.
The final English local authority with an infection rate above 100 per 100,000 is Preston where cases stand at 102, up from 61.5.
Sharp increases have also been seen in Sunderland, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds.
All of these areas are already on the Government’s watchlist and many are subject to additional restrictions.
From Tuesday, people in Birmingham have been banned from mixing with anyone outside their household indoors or in private gardens.
Random door-to-door testing is set to begin in the worst affected areas of the city on Monday. Entire households are being offered the chance to get tested, even if they don’t have any symptoms.
The least affected area, according to the data, is Tendring in Essex which saw just one case in the last week and has an infection rate of 0.7 per 100,000.
Similarly in North Norfolk there was only one case recorded and an infection rate of one per 100,000.
20 worst affected local authority areas in England
From left to right, it reads: name of local authority; rate of new cases in the seven days to September 10; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to September 10; rate of new cases in the seven days to September 3; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to September 3.
- Bolton 192.0 (552), 126.2 (363)
- Blackburn with Darwen 118.2 (177), 61.5 (92)
- Hyndburn 114.8 (93), 43.2 (35)
- Oadby and Wigston 114.0 (65), 24.6 (14)
- Preston 102.0 (146), 61.5 (88)
- Warrington 98.1 (206), 29.0 (61)
- Tameside 94.5 (214), 56.5 (128)
- Sunderland 94.3 (262), 34.2 (95)
- Oldham 91.5 (217), 66.6 (158)
- Bradford 90.0 (486), 73.2 (395)
- Birmingham 88.8 (1014), 53.0 (605)
- Burnley 86.6 (77), 59.6 (53)
- Knowsley 86.2 (130), 30.5 (46)
- Liverpool 85.1 (424), 32.9 (164)
- Wirral 81.2 (263), 46.9 (152)
- Salford 80.7 (209), 65.3 (169)
- St. Helens 79.7 (144), 25.5 (46)
- Bury 78.5 (150), 47.6 (91)
- Leicester 78.2 (277), 44.0 (156)
- Manchester 77.4 (428), 54.3 (300)
The list has been calculated by the PA news agency and is based on Public Health England data published on September 13 on the Government’s coronavirus dashboard.
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