THE rate of new infections of coronavirus remains high according to the latest figures.

The update of the rolling seven-day rate of new cases of Covid-19 in Warrington shows 738 cases in that period.

That is the equivalent of 351.4 cases per 100,000 people.

The rate has been above 300 every day for more than a week now.

The Warrington Guardian revealed on Friday that the town would move into the highest level of Government restrictions next week due to the high levels of infections.

Sadly in the past three days, 15 people have died at Warrington Hospital and more than 100 patients with Covid-19 are currently being treated.

Data for the most recent four days (October 20-23) has been excluded as it is incomplete and does not reflect the true number of cases.

The numbers continue to fall in some of the areas with the highest rates in England but have continued to rise across other local authorities.

In Knowsley, Merseyside, 999 new cases were recorded in the seven days to October 19, the equivalent of 662.2 cases per 100,000 people - the highest rate in England.

But this is down from 719.9 cases per 100,000 in the seven days to October 12.

Blackburn with Darwen in Lancashire has the second highest rate, up from 466.3 to 634.6, with 950 new cases.

Rossendale, also in Lancashire, is in third place, having seen the largest increase in its rate from 362.3 to 607.1, with 434 new cases.

But Liverpool and Nottingham, in fourth and fifth place respectively, have both seen significant drops in their rates.

In Liverpool the rate has fallen from 690.7 to 571.6, with 2,847 new cases.

Nottingham saw the largest drop in the country, down from 895.2 to 563.8, with 1,877 new cases.

Case rates have also continued to decrease in the cities of Newcastle, Exeter, Sheffield, Manchester and Oxford.