BOLTON North East MP Mark Logan has joined calls for more localised data on coronavirus R values and the number of new infections to be made available.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, Mr Logan asked Prime Minister Boris Johnson whether up-to-date local data around the R rate would give greater confidence to people to reopen businesses, schools and places of worship.

Mr Logan added there had been “much disinformation about the R value in Bolton and the North West”.

Replying to Mr Logan’s question, Mr Johnson said: “I am encouraged by NHS trace and test and the progress it is making and with the help of the joint bio security centre we are able to identify hot spots to whack a mole and stamp out outbreaks of the epidemic where they occur.”

The health secretary Matt Hancock has insisted that the coronavirus R number is below one in all regions of the UK, including the North West, despite a recent survey suggesting otherwise.

The statistic is a measure of whether the disease is under control.