THERE were 397 new cases of coronavirus in St Helens over the weekend, official figures show

Public Health England figures show that there have been 397 cases recorded overall in the three days for Saturday, Sunday and Monday's statistics.

This indicates on average a similar daily rise to the previous days with 84 on Friday, 131 on Thursday 101 on Wednesday and 140 cases in Tuesday’s figures. Meanwhile, there were 327 cases across the three days for the weekend covering Saturday, Sunday and Monday last week.

The health body includes Pillar Two tests – those carried out in the wider community – alongside Pillar One tests, which are analysed in NHS or PHE laboratories and which made up the first stage of the Government's mass testing programme in the spring.

The latest released rolling seven-day rate of infection in St Helens was 407 per 100,000, as figures showed there were 732 cases between October 9 and 15.

This does not take into account the more recent days' numbers.

READ > St Helens people urged to do all they can to prevent spread of coronavirus

Last week, St Helens was placed under Tier Three ‘very high alert’ level restrictions.

These include for people not to socialise with anybody they do not live with, or have formed a support bubble with, in any indoor setting or in any private garden or at most outdoor hospitality venues and ticketed events; not to socialise in a group of more than six in an outdoor public space and pubs and bars can only remain open where they operate as if they were a restaurant.

In total, 4,326 people have been confirmed as testing positive for COVID-19 in St Helens, since the start of the outbreak in mid-March.

This means the overall rate of infection in St Helens now stands at 2,396 cases per 100,000 people, higher than the equivalent England average of 1,118.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases over the three days increased by 51,955 to 741,212.

St Helens's cases were among the 157,193 recorded across the North West, a figure which rose by 13,557 over the period.

Cumulative case counts include patients who are currently unwell, asymptomatic, have recovered and those that have died.