CORONAVIRUS cases rates in Oldham are still climbing, according to the latest official figures from Public Health England.

The borough is now outside the top 10 for infection rates, with Bolton, Birmingham and Preston all seeing steep rises.

But the numbers of new cases, in the seven days to September 7, was still 173 for Oldham - equivalent to 73 per 100,000 people.

This compares to 147 new cases, or 62 cases per 100,000 people, for the previous week-long period.

In Bolton, 462 new cases were recorded in the seven days to September 7 - the equivalent of 160.7 per 100,000 people.

This is the highest rate in England and it is up sharply from 80.0 in the seven days to August 31.

Birmingham has the second highest rate, up from 32.0 to 85.4 with 975 new cases.

Preston is in third place, where the rate has risen from 35.6 to 85.2, with 122 new cases.

Other areas recording notable week-on-week jumps include Salford, Bradford, Sunderland, Manchester and Leeds.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: "“If we don’t all observe the rules closely, we are going to see the numbers of those entering hospital increasing and we run the risk of seeing care home residents becoming infected. That’s what this is about."