Coronavirus infection rates sky-rocket in every single East Lancashire borough

The rates of infection increased in Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle Rossendale and the Ribble Valley in the seven days to December 13.

New data published on Monday evening has revealed that Pendle's infection rate sky-rocketed from 237.8 cases per 100,000 people to 337.6 cases per 100,000 people in the seven days to December 13.

While Burnley's rate of infection also increased by a huge amount, rising from 299.1 cases per 100,000 people to 437.5 cases per 100,000 people.  

Here are the current rolling rates of infection for all six areas from the seven days to December 17.

From left to right, it reads: name of local authority; the tier of Covid-19 restrictions in which the local authority is currently placed; rate of new cases in the seven days to December 17; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to December 17; rate of new cases in the seven days to December 10; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to December 10.

Burnley, Tier 3, 437.5, (389), 299.1, (266)

Pendle, Tier 3, 337.6, (311), 237.8, (219)

Blackburn with Darwen, Tier 3, 257.9, (386), 243.2, (364)

Ribble Valley, Tier 3, 233.2, (142), 213.5, (130)

Rossendale, Tier 3, 230.8, (165), 219.6, (157)

Hyndburn, Tier 3, 294.9, (239), 159.2, (129)

Only Burnley is within the top 60 areas with the highest infection rates in the country, sitting at 57th. 

Chorley, West Lancashire, South Ribble, Blackpool and Fylde were the only boroughs across the whole of the county to record a drop in their infection rates.

The rolling rates for the remaining eight boroughs within Lancashire are as follows:

Preston, Tier 3, 250.1, (358), 214.5, (307)

Chorley, Tier 3, 207.2, (245), 215.7, (255)

West Lancashire, Tier 3, 154.0, (176), 156.6, (179)

South Ribble, Tier 3, 179.6, (199), 188.6, (209)

Blackpool, Tier 3, 156.3, (218), 163.5, (228)

Lancaster, Tier 3, 168.4, (246), 127.4, (186)

Wyre, Tier 3, 137.4, (154), 126.7, (142)

Fylde, Tier 3, 94.1, (76), 107.7, (87)

Of the 315 local areas in England, 284 have seen a rise in case rates, 30 have seen a fall and one is unchanged.

Thurrock in Essex has the highest rate in England, with 2,055 new cases recorded in the seven days to December 17 – the equivalent of 1178.7 cases per 100,000 people.

This is up steeply from 435.9 in the seven days to December 10.

Havering in London has the second highest rate, up from 547.1 to 1123.5, with 2,916 new cases.

Epping Forest in Essex is in third place, where the rate has risen from 448.8 to 1078.3, with 1,420 new cases.