Five boroughs in Greater Manchester are now on ‘red alert’ after recording the highest number of daily coronavirus cases since the height of the pandemic in April.
Manchester, Bolton, Oldham, Salford and Tameside are on high alert after infection rates went above the government’s local lockdown threshold of 50 cases per 100,000 people.
Rochdale, which saw a rate of 49.5 cases per 100,000 at the end of last week, is also at risk of entering the alert zone but along with Trafford, hasn’t seen infection rates rise on the previous seven days, the Manchester Evening News reports.
According to the latest available data, 283 positive coronavirus cases were recorded in Greater Manchester on September 2. This is the highest number recorded since April 29 when 328 cases were recorded during lockdown.
In Bolton, new restrictions came into place on Saturday after the infection rate there increased to 99 cases per 100,000 people per week – the highest in England.
Young people have been urged to ‘take responsibility for their actions’ as those aged between 18 and 49 account for more than 90% of the cases, Bolton council said.
In Oldham, where tighter restrictions have been in place for weeks, the rate stands at 59.5. This has increased slightly from 58. The infection rate in Salford increased from 51.4 in the previous seven day period to 58.
The rate has also increased in Tameside, Manchester, Bury, Wigan and Stockport. Manchester now has an infection rate of 50.1 – it was recorded at 48.3 in the previous seven days.
On Sunday, Matt Hancock stressed the importance of continued social distancing after almost 3,000 new coronavirus infections were reported.
The latest jump is the largest daily increase in Covid-19 cases since mid-May, while hospital admissions remain low and just two deaths were recorded in the previous 24 hours.
The Health Secretary told Sky News the rise in the number of cases is ‘concerning’.
He added: ‘The cases are predominantly among younger people, but we’ve seen in other countries across the world and in Europe, this sort of rise in cases among younger people leads to a rise across the population as a whole.
‘It’s so important that people don’t allow this illness to infect their grandparents and to lead to the sort of problems we saw earlier in the year. It’s so important that everybody does their bit and follows the social distancing.’
Meanwhile the leader of Leeds City Council said she was concerned about ‘a bit of a complacency coming in’ as the city was added to the government’s ‘areas of concern’ watchlist.
Judith Blake said there had been a rise in house parties, with seven £10,000 fines issued to illegal rave organisers last weekend.
South Tyneside, Corby, Middlesbrough and Kettering joined Leeds in being added to the list of areas which ministers are concerned about on Friday.
As well as those on the watchlist, it was announced on Friday that Norfolk, Rossendale and Northampton will be classed as ‘areas of enhanced support’, meaning the government will work with local authorities to provide additional resources, such as testing or contact tracing.
Newark and Sherwood, Slough and Wakefield were removed from the watchlist.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.