The ten areas in England with the highest week-on-week rise in Covid cases

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

direct to your inbox These are the areas of England which have the highest rates of coronavirus and the places which have seen the biggest weekly increase.

The figures, for the seven days to January 7, are based on tests carried out in laboratories (pillar one of the government’s testing programme) and in the wider community (pillar two).The list, below, shows there has been a big rise in cases in areas in Merseyside such as Knowsley, Halton, Liverpool and Sefton.The rate is expressed as the number of new cases per 100,000 people.Data for the most recent four days (January 8-11) has been excluded as it is incomplete and does not reflect the true number of cases.Of the 315 local areas in England, 222 (70 per cent) have seen a rise in case.