All of the top 20 areas with the highest coronavirus infection rates in the country are now in the North, it can be revealed.

Blackburn with Darwen and Rossendale take the two top spots, followed by Oldham, Wigan and Knowsley.

By far the worst affected communities are in the North West, which has seen Liverpool, Lancashire and Greater Manchester all placed into the highest Tier 3 restrictions category.

The North-East, which has so far resisted rumours of Tier 3 ristrictions being imposed, fares much better than communities west of the Pennines.

Data from Public Health England, published on Monday evening, shows the rolling seven-day rate of new cases of Covid-19, and Blackburn with Darwen's rate has risen to 755.5 cases per 100,000 people, up from 515.0 cases per 100,000 in the seven days to October 15, after recording 1,131 new cases in the seven days to October 22,

This is now the highest rate in England and the largest weekly increase in the country.

Rossendale, has the second highest rate, up from 472.8 to 653.3, with 467 new cases.

Oldham in Greater Manchester is in third place, with its rate rising from 415.0 to 625.4, with 1,483 new cases.

The figures, for the seven days to October 22, are based on tests carried out in laboratories (pillar one of the Government’s testing programme) and in the wider community (pillar two).

The rate is expressed as the number of new cases per 100,000 people.

Data between October 23 and October 26 has been excluded as it is incomplete and does not reflect the true number of cases.

Here is the top 20 list of worst affected areas:

From left to right, it reads: name of local authority; rate of new cases in the seven days to October 22; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to October 22; rate of new cases in the seven days to October 15; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to October 15.

Blackburn with Darwen 755.5 (1131), 515.0 (771)

Rossendale 653.3 (467), 472.8 (338)

Oldham 625.4 (1483), 415.0 (984)

Wigan 601.8 (1978), 443.6 (1458)

Knowsley 599.9 (905), 682.1 (1029)

Salford 579.1 (1499), 430.0 (1113)

Rochdale 578.2 (1286), 476.1 (1059)

Barnsley 551.7 (1362), 369.4 (912)

Bolton 529.6 (1523), 404.5 (1163)

Liverpool 520.2 (2591), 620.0 (3088)

Ribble Valley 512.4 (312), 349.8 (213)

Bury 510.0 (974), 400.0 (764)

Doncaster 497.0 (1550), 287.6 (897)

Hyndburn 494.8 (401), 339.3 (275)

Manchester 489.1 (2704), 432.3 (2390)

Pendle 488.5 (450), 459.2 (423)

Blackpool 481.9 (672), 365.0 (509)

Rotherham 481.1 (1277), 343.6 (912)

Preston 476.5 (682), 392.6 (562)

Burnley 471.2 (419), 543.2 (483)

The numbers continue to fall in some of the areas with the highest rates in England.

The rate Nottingham, which will go into Tier 3 of restrictions on Thursday, fell from 726.6 in the seven days to October 15 to 464.4 in the week to October 22, with 1,546 new cases.

In Liverpool, which was one of the first areas placed in Tier 3, the rate fell from 620.0 to 520.2, with 2,591 new cases.

In Knowsley, also in Tier 3, the rate fell from 682.1 to 599.9, with 905 new cases.