Coronavirus case numbers beginning to rise again in Oldham

Covid-19 infection rates are beginning to rise again in Oldham

Covid-19 infection rates are beginning to rise again in Oldham after weeks of plateauing case numbers.

It comes as a more transmissible variant of the virus has begun to circulate in Greater Manchester, which Mayor Andy Burnham says could already account to 25pc of all new cases in the region.

Oldham’s infection rate is the second lowest of the ten boroughs, just above Bolton, standing at 249.7 per 100,000 people in the week to January 3.

However this is up 29pc on the previous seven days, and this increase can also be seen at neighbourhood level.

There are now only ten areas of the borough that have weekly case numbers in single figures, according to the government’s latest local data.

Werneth remains the biggest hotspot area for new infections, with 42 being recorded in the week to December 29.

This is followed by Chadderton Central with 33, Hathershaw with 29 and Holt Lane End and Bardsley with 26.

Failsworth South saw 24 cases in the last week of December, while Moorside and Sholver had 21 confirmed.

However the area with the lowest case numbers is Oldham Town South, which saw just five cases that week.

And Alexandra Park – which had been the borough’s biggest hotspot area during the summer with cases well over a hundred – has seen just nine incidences of the virus in the week to December 29.

Greater Manchester had been placed into Tier 4 of coronavirus restrictions, which means that the area has a ‘very rapidly rising rate of infections’.

The area is now subject to a national lockdown, and people have been told they cannot leave their home or garden except where they have a ‘reasonable excuse’, including for work, exercise, care duties, and other exemptions.

However Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to address the nation at 8pm tonight, and is expected to announce even stricter measures to combat the virus.

The latest weekly cases for the borough, broken up into Middle layer Super Output Areas (MSOA) which are sorted by population:
Alexandra Park – 9
Alt – 15
Busk – 12
Chadderton Central – 33
Chadderton North – 15
Chadderton South East – 7
Chadderton South West – 10
Clough and Shaw Side – 14
Derker – 6
Diggle, Delph and Denshaw – 7
Failsworth East – 13
Failsworth South – 24
Failsworth West – 18
Greenfield and Uppermill – 9
Hathershaw – 29
Holt Lane End and Bardsley – 26
Lees and Hey -8
Lime Side and Garden Suburb – 12
Moorside and Sholver – 21
New Delph, Dobcross and Austerlands – 6
Oldham Town North -16
Oldham Town South – 5
Royton East and Cowlishaw – 12
Royton North – 18
Royton South West -7
Salem – 17
Shaw and Crompton – 7
Springhead and Grasscroft -16
Waterhead – 19
Werneth – 42
Wood End – 14

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