THE coronavirus infection rate in Herefordshire has fallen slightly over the last week, the latest figures show.

The rate, which expressed as the number of new cases per 100,000 people, had been continually rising every week since September 23.

But in the latest figures, for the seven days to November 2, the rate has fallen to 83.5 new cases per 100,000 from 96.0.

The figures are based on tests carried out in laboratories (pillar one of the Government’s testing programme) and in the wider community (pillar two).

Data for the most recent four days (November 3-6) has been excluded as it is incomplete and does not reflect the true number of cases.

A majority of areas in England (185 out of 315) have seen a rise in case rates, with Herefordshire one of the exceptions.

Oldham in Greater Manchester continues to have the highest rate in England, with 1,852 new cases recorded in the seven days to November 2 – the equivalent of 781.1 cases per 100,000 people.

This is up from 704.3 cases per 100,000 in the seven days to October 26.

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Blackburn with Darwen, also in the north east, has the second highest rate, down from 770.2 to 720.8, with 1,079 new cases.

Nearby Wigan is in third place, where the rate has dropped slightly from 689.2 to 673.9, with 2,215 new cases.

The list has been calculated by the PA news agency and is based on Public Health England data published on November 6 on the Government’s coronavirus dashboard.

Here is the top 20 in the list:

From left to right, it reads: name of local authority; rate of new cases in the seven days to November 2; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to November 2; rate of new cases in the seven days to October 26; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to October 26.

  1. Oldham 781.1 (1852), 704.3 (1670)
  2. Blackburn with Darwen 720.8 (1079), 770.2 (1153)
  3. Wigan 673.9 (2215), 689.2 (2265)
  4. Salford 635.9 (1646), 612.0 (1584)
  5. Rochdale 591.2 (1315), 594.8 (1323)
  6. Bury 590.1 (1127), 552.4 (1055)
  7. Bradford 577.6 (3118), 492.8 (2660)
  8. Bolton 557.1 (1602), 570.0 (1639)
  9. North East Lincolnshire 555.9 (887), 382.9 (611)
  10. Barnsley 547.7 (1352), 504.7 (1246)
  11. Tameside 546.6 (1238), 535.6 (1213)
  12. Hull 543.2 (1411), 318.7 (828)
  13. Kirklees 540.0 (2375), 414.7 (1824)
  14. Doncaster 518.5 (1617), 572.3 (1785)
  15. Rotherham 516.2 (1370), 520.3 (1381)
  16. Wakefield 489.2 (1704), 432.7 (1507)
  17. Rossendale 479.8 (343), 598.8 (428)
  18. Manchester 475.2 (2627), 500.5 (2767)
  19. Bolsover 470.4 (379), 337.6 (272)
  20. Preston 469.5 (672), 479.3 (686)

Here's how Herefordshire compares to nearby local authorities:

125. Shropshire 208.9 (675), 135.5 (438)

138. Worcester 189.7 (192), 160.0 (162)

169. Gloucester 153.3 (198), 104.5 (135)

224. Malvern Hills 119.4 (94), 104.2 (82)

243. Cheltenham 104.9 (122), 71.4 (83)

264. Forest of Dean 93.3 (81), 85.3 (74)

284. Herefordshire 83.5 (161), 96.0 (185)