Covid-19 infection rates are continuing to rise in Greater Manchester as it reckons with a 'new wave' of the virus, according to the region's lead health boss. Some 11 areas in the city-region are now reporting case rates of more than 1,000 per 100,000 people.
Wards in Oldham and Salford are among those in the list - with swathes of Stockport and Trafford being hardest hit as Bramhall South and Woodford peaks over 1,400 cases. But the spiralling case rates come even as health leaders warn the figures could be a 'massive underreporting' of case numbers as fewer people are likely to be testing.
That warning follows the government's rollback of the final Covid-19 safety measures at the end of February, which included the end of mandated isolation for anyone testing positive for the virus. At the end of March, free mass testing will also end, again causing concerns that those with symptoms will be even less likely to test and will result in a lack of accurate data.
