The three areas most at risk of going into local lockdowns because of coronavirus spikes are now seeing their infection rates rapidly falling. 

Oldham, Blackburn with Darwen and Pendle in north west England have all apparently turned a corner in their battle to reduce the number of new cases of the virus.

In Oldham in Greater Manchester, 144 new cases were recorded in the seven days to August 21 – the equivalent of 60.7 per 100,000 people.

This is the highest rate in England, but it is down from 95.3 in the seven days to August 14.

The rate in Pendle is 55.4, down from 87.9, with 51 new cases. In Blackburn with Darwen, the rate has fallen from 88.2 to 51.4, with 77 new cases.

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Residents in these areas have faced restrictions on socialising with others outside of their household since the beginning of August.

Oldham in particular was said to be ’48 hours away’ from a more severe lockdown being imposed last week which could have seen pubs, restaurants and gyms closed.

The council leader Sean Fielding said this would have been ‘catastrophic’ for the town and the Government decided against stricter measures after reviewing the latest data. 

The statistics for every local authority area in England have been compiled by the PA news agency, based on Public Health England data. 

They cover the seven days to August 21 and are based on tests carried out in both laboratories and the wider community.

Northampton topped the list of worst-affected areas last week, primarily because of a big outbreak in a sandwich-making factory. The East Midlands town has seen its rate drop massively this week to 35.6 from 116.6.

While signs that measures are working in some of the worst-affected areas, new spikes are developing elsewhere in the country. 

Redditch, near Birmingham, has seen its infection rate increase massively to 29.3, compared to just 4.7 in the previous week. 

The rate in Oadby and Wigston in Leicestershire has also increased to 31.6 from 26.3. Oxford, Corby and Kettering are also seeing higher rates of infection than the week before. 

In Leicester, the first city to go back into lockdown, the rate continues to fall. It’s down from 58.4 to 46.9, with 166 new cases.

Three other areas have rates above 40 per 100,000: Manchester (42.7), Bradford (42.2) and Swindon (40.1).

In Stoke-on-Trent the infection rate has continued to rise, days after the council issued a lockdown warning.

The figures show 47 new cases were detected in the seven days to last Friday, and this saw the city’s infection rate rise from 18.3 to 28.9 cases per 100,000 of the population.

Abi Brown, leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, last week warned lockdown was on the cards if the trend continued.

She said: ‘You can’t look at the national news without another city-wide lock-down coming into force or being discussed.

‘We don’t want to be the next one – the next seven days is a critical time for the city so let’s all play our part, protect our loved ones and avoid lock-down.’

20 worst affected areas for coronavirus week ending August 21

• Oldham 60.7 per 100,000 (144 new cases), down from 95.3 (226)
• Pendle 55.4 (51), down from 87.9 (81)
• Blackburn with Darwen 51.4 (77), down from 88.2 (132)
• Leicester 46.9 (166), down from 58.4 (207)
• Manchester 42.7 (236), down from 48.8 (270)
• Bradford 42.2 (228), down from 55.9 (302)
• Swindon 40.1 (89), up from 39.6 (88)
• Rochdale 37.8 (84), down from 40.9 (91)
• Northampton 35.6 (80), down from 116.6 (262)
• Bury 33.0 (63), up from 31.9 (61)
• Oadby and Wigston 31.6 (18), up from 26.3 (15)
• Redditch 29.3 (25), up from 4.7 (4)
• Stoke-on-Trent 28.9 (74), up from 18.3 (47)
• Salford 27.0 (70), down from 36.3 (94)
• Calderdale 27.0 (57), down from 40.2 (85)
• Kirklees 26.6 (117), down from 35.5 (156)
• Oxford 26.2 (40), up from 18.4 (28)
• Corby 23.5 (17), up from 16.6 (12)
• Tameside 23.4 (53), down from 30.0 (68)
• Kettering 22.6 (23), up from 12.8 (13)

From left to right, it reads: name of local authority; rate of new cases in the seven days to August 21; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to August 21; rate of new cases in the seven days to August 14; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to August 14.

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