The number of cases of Covid in Oldham has begun to stabilise, but the death figures have increased.

The latest data from the Office of National Statistics shows that there were 96 cases in the town, which is the second time this week the figure has remained below 100.

The number means that over the last seven days there were 918 cases recorded, which was up 162 and 21.4% from the previous week.

However the rate of increase here was recently close to 50% meaning this has slowed significantly over the past week.

Across the whole of the UK in this time there were 374,775 cases during this time which represented a fall of 7.2%, meaning that Oldham is moving in a different direction to the national picture.

On top of this there were five deaths recorded on Wednesday in the town, which took the weekly total to 20 which was up significantly from 11 the previous week.

The deaths mean there have been 480 deaths in Oldham within 28 days of testing positive for Covid and 538 where Covid was on the death certificate.

The current rate of Covid per 100,000 people in the town is at 385.5.

The UK was placed into its third national lockdown earlier this month in response to the new strain of the virus which originated in the south east and is believed to be more easily transmitted between people.

The new strain was said to have had the possibility to increase the reproduction rate by 0.4 and is accounting for an increasing number of cases.

The latest estimate for the north west region’s R rate is between 1 and 1.4.

When the r rate rises above 1 the disease spreads exponentially, whereas below 1 it is under control.

The latest figures also showed that 2,254,556 people have received the first dose of the vaccine.