THE number of coronavirus cases at Fairfield General Hospital has plateaued.

There are now around seven new cases of Covid-19 every day in the borough – and the figures are not falling.

Chief executive Geoff Little told Bury’s clinical commissioning group (CCG) governing body that there were 732 cases in Bury on Wednesday.

He said: “The number of COVID cases in Fairfield are not going down at the moment – they have plateaued. Whether that’s a tiny blip or a trend, we don’t know yet.

“Overall, we are on the downside of the peak but we are not moving rapidly down that side. We do remain concerned about the pressure at care homes.”

There were 176 deaths from coronavirus up to May 15, but these were not registered until May 23, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Of these deaths, 118 deaths have been in hospital and 51 in care homes.

Bury Council has received £2.4m from the government as part of an infection control grant for care homes.

The Covid-19 Emergency Powers Group approved the allocation of 75 per cent of the funding which will be passed straight on to Bury’s 57 care homes.

The remaining 25 per cent must also be used for infection control measures, however local authorities are able to allocate this based on need.

Mr Little said care homes are the local authorities’ top priority at the moment.

He said: “We have allocated £1.7m of money given to us by government to support care homes in infection control.

“There’s a further part of that money which is to be allocated and we are in discussion with care homes as to how best to use that.”

Mr Little, who is the accountable officer for Bury’s CCG, also told the governing body about the council’s preparations for lifting the lockdown.

He added: “It’s probably a very pivotal moment in Bury.

“The number of cases is coming down from the peak but slowly and at the same time we are lifting the lockdown – slowly and carefully, but it’s being lifted.

“In the last two weeks, we’ve seen a lifting of restrictions on people exercising outside and garden centres have reopened.

“We are, of course, acutely concerned about the risk of a second peak.

“We are going in the right direction but we are not going there that fast. Lifting the lockdown needs to be carefully done with all the right safeguards in place.”