Blackpool's infection rate drops for a second week in a row as Lancashire begins to buck the trend

In the seven days to November 5, the resort recorded a rate of 322 per 100,000 people, down from 410.9 the week before, official figures showed.

Some 449 people tested positive for the virus that week, down from 573.

The infection rate also dropped again in Fylde, from 333 to 281, with 227 fresh cases, and also in Wyre, from 368.5 to 332.8, with 373 new diagnoses.

Whereas a month ago the north west was seeing some of the worst figures in the UK, Lancashire is now bucking the trend, recording falls in infection rates while 210 out of 315 areas of England continue to record rises.

Oldham continues to have the highest rate in England, with 1,835 new cases in the week up to November 5 - the equivalent of 773.9 cases per 100,000 people.

Blackburn with Darwen in east Lancashire has the second highest rate, though it is down slightly from 730.1 to 719.5, with 1,077 new cases.

Hull, in Yorkshire, is in third place, where the rate has jumped sharply from 373.0 to 671.3, with 1,744 new cases. This is also the biggest week-on-week jump for any area in England.

Other areas recording large jumps include North East Lincolnshire; Scarborough; and Amber Valley.

Blackpool was placed under Tier 3 lockdown on Saturday, October 17, shortly after the rest of the county, with pubs and restaurants shut and freedoms curbed in a bid to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

The entire nation was then plunged into a second national lockdown last Thursday. It is set to last until Wednesday, December 2.

It will become clear tomorrow whether there has also been another drop in the number of patients with Covid in Blackpool Victoria Hospital and Clifton Hospital in St Annes.

Last Wednesday, there were 159, down from 196 the week before, though medical director Dr Jim Gardner said there were more unofficial inpatients who were there because of Covid but tested positive more than two weeks ago and no longer count towards the statistics.

Though he described last week's fall in infection rates a "ray of sunshine", he said the fact 29 people have died in hospital in the previous seven days after testing positive for the virus showed the "seriousness of the situation that we are dealing with".

Dr Gardner is expected to give another briefing tomorrow afternoon.

Some 16 people have died since his last one last Wednesday, leaving the local Covid death toll at 336, NHS England figures showed.

Across the north west, 1,879 people have been admitted to hospital in the past seven days.

A total of 4,317 people living in the council area of Blackpool have been diagnosed with the virus since the pandemic began earlier this year.