Cases of coronavirus are back on the rise, and have increased in all ten boroughs of Greater Manchester, figures have revealed.
Despite this, they are all still currently lower than the national average. However, also on the rise are hospitalisations with the virus, up 9 per cent week on week.
The news comes just a matter of days before the government pledged to scrap the current Covid travel rules, as the government continues to operate its 'living with Covid' strategy - including scrapping free universal Covid testing for the general public in England from April 1.
Trafford currently has the highest coronavirus infection rate in Greater Manchester, with a rate of 483.2 cases per 100,000 people, in the week ending March 10. Comparatively, the lowest infection rate is in Rochdale, where the rate is 213.7 cases per 100,000 people.
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In Greater Manchester as a whole, the infection rate is now 329.3 cases per 100,000 population, this is still significantly lower than the national infection rate, which sits at 541.4 cases per 100,000 people.
A total of 9,338 people tested positive for coronavirus across Greater Manchester in the week which ended on March 10. The Greater Manchester weekly total has increased by 3664 cases compared to the previous week, which means the infection rate was up 65 per cent in the last week..
Hospital admissions
In the week ending on March 06, a total of 335 patients were admitted to Greater Manchester NHS hospitals with Covid-19. That is 27 more than the week before, a rise of 9 per cent.
On Tuesday March 08, there were 11 Mechanical Ventilation (MV) beds occupied by Covid patients in Greater Manchester NHS hospitals. That is three fewer than a week earlier.
Deaths
In the week ending March 10, a total of 19 people died within 28 days of a positive Covid test across Greater Manchester, which is 5 fewer than the week before.
Since the start of the pandemic, there have been a total of 914,985 confirmed coronavirus cases in Greater Manchester. There has been a total of 8,804 deaths.
Cases reported in each of the ten boroughs
Oldham
Oldham is an area where the trend is up. The latest infection rate here is 244.1 cases per 100,000 people.
There were 580 cases recorded in Oldham, which is 221 more than the previous week - a rise of 62 per cent.
Bolton
In Bolton, the number of cases is up by 71 per cent compared to the previous week - leaving the infection rate at 270.9 cases per 100,000 population.
There were 781 positive Covid-19 tests in Bolton in the week ending March 10, which was 324 more than the previous 7 days.
Stockport
There were 1349 positive tests over the last week in Stockport, which is 569 more than in the previous week.
The week-on-week trend in Stockport is up by 73 per cent and the latest infection rate is 458.5 cases per 100,000 people.
Bury
In Bury, the latest infection rate is 367.1 cases per 100,000 people and the number of cases has gone up by 66 per cent.
A total of 700 people tested positive for Covid in Bury over the seven days ending on March 10, which is 278 more than the week before.
Rochdale
Rochdale, which has the lowest infection rate in the region, recorded 478 positive Covid-19 tests in the week ending March 10, which is 147 more than the previous 7 days.
The coronavirus infection rate in Rochdale is now 213.7 cases per 100,000 people and is up by 44 per cent week-on-week.
Tameside
Tameside saw a total of 702 cases in the week ending March 10, which is 272 more than the previous week. That is a rise of 63 per cent.
In Tameside, the most recent coronavirus infection rate is now 309.1 cases per 100,000 people.
Trafford
In Trafford, there were 1148 positive Covid-19 tests in the week ending March 10, which is 531 more than the previous 7 days.
Trafford has the highest infection rate in the region. The infection rate in Trafford is up slightly compared with the previous day and the week-on-week trend is up by 86 per cent.
Wigan
There was a rise of 66 per cent in cases in Wigan over the week ending March 10, and the infection rate is now 301.8 cases per 100,000 population.
Wigan recorded 998 positive Covid-19 tests over the seven-day period, and that is 398 more than the previous week.
Salford
Salford recorded 847 coronavirus cases, which is 309 more than in the previous seven days.
The latest infection rate in Salford is 322.4 cases per 100,000 people and that is up 57 per cent week-on-week.
Manchester
The trend is up in Manchester, where there were 1755 positive Covid-19 tests in the week ending March 10, which is 615 more than the previous 7 days. That is up by 54 per cent compared to the previous week.
The latest infection rate in Manchester is 315.8 cases per 100,000 people, which is lower than the national average.
READ MORE of the latest coronavirus news from across Greater Manchester here.
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