Revealed: which areas of Oldham have the highest coronavirus cases

Reporter: Charlotte Green
Date published: 07 August 2020


The areas of Oldham with the highest coronavirus cases are Werneth and Alexandra Park, new data has revealed.

Statistics released by Public Health England (PHE) from July 26 up to August 2 show that cases of the virus have been confirmed all across the borough, with 15 areas having three or more cases. 

Oldham currently has the highest infection rate in Greater Manchester, and is well above the English average. 

A spike in infections led to lockdown restrictions on households socialising being reintroduced on July 28 by the council.

Over the past two weeks there have been cases all across the borough, including the town centre and western areas, as well as Failsworth, Royton, Chadderton, and Shaw and Crompton.

While the rate of testing has increased locally to try and tackle infection hotspots – the proportion of people testing positive is also increasing.

Cabinet member for Covid-19 recovery, Coun Arooj Shah has warned they are not expecting to see a drop in the numbers of infections in the borough for ‘weeks’.

According to the latest data Werneth has the most cases, with 25 recorded in the past seven days, followed by the Alexandra Park area with 24. 

Third highest is Busk with 13 cases, and Salem with 11 positive incidences of the virus.

There were seven cases both in Oldham Town North and Chadderton South East.

In Hathershaw during the last week of July there have been six cases while in Chadderton North five cases have been recorded.

Across Failsworth East, Alt and Lees and Hey there have been four cases in each area.

And three cases have been identified in Chadderton Central, Royton South East, and Springhead and Grasscroft. 

The PHE data totals 125 new cases across Oldham – however areas which have two or fewer cases are not included in the data map – meaning the total will be higher.

According to the council, over the last 28 days, the ward with the highest rate per 100,000 cases was in St. Mary’s – which covers much of the area designated as Alexandra Park by PHE.

Alexandra Park was also top of the public health table in the previous week up to July 26, with 22 cases.

The wards with the lowest rates were Saddleworth North, Saddleworth South and St. James’ ward.

Overall, throughout the whole pandemic, the ward with the highest rate was Werneth and the ward with the lowest rate was Hollinwood.


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