Five of East Lancashire's boroughs continue to be within the top 20 places for the areas with the highest coronavirus infection rates across the country.

Blackburn with Darwen and Rossendale occupy the top two spots, while Hyndburn is in 12th place, Ribble Valley in 14th, and Pendle in 20th.

Burnley has dropped to 26th on the list from 20th.

Figures from Public Health England, published on Tuesday evening, show the seven day rolling rate of new covid-19 cases.

The figures, for the seven days to October 23, are based on tests carried out in laboratories (pillar one of the Government’s testing programme) and in the wider community (pillar two).

The rate is expressed as the number of new cases per 100,000 people.

Blackburn with Darwen continues to have the highest rate in England, with 1,176 new cases recorded in the seven days to October 23 – the equivalent of 785.6 cases per 100,000 people.

This is up from 526.4 cases per 100,000 in the seven days to October 16.

Rossendale has the second highest rate, up from 472.8 to 675.7, with 483 new cases.

Oldham in Greater Manchester is in third place, with its rate rising from 415.0 to 625.4, with 1,483 new cases.

The 20 worst affected areas are listed below.

From left to right, it reads: name of local authority; rate of new cases in the seven days to October 23; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to October 23; rate of new cases in the seven days to October 16; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to October 16.

Blackburn with Darwen 785.6 (1176), 526.4 (788)

Rossendale 675.7 (483), 472.8 (338)

Oldham 655.0 (1553), 428.5 (1016)

Wigan 634.7 (2086), 458.8 (1508)

Salford 617.4 (1598), 436.6 (1130)

Rochdale 610.6 (1358), 487.4 (1084)

Knowsley 589.3 (889), 667.5 (1007)

Barnsley 563.9 (1392), 395.4 (976)

Bolton 554.3 (1594), 417.7 (1201)

Bury 528.8 (1010), 409.4 (782)

Doncaster 525.2 (1638), 314.9 (982)

Hyndburn 517.0 (419), 355.4 (288)

Liverpool 510.0 (2540), 605.8 (3017)

Ribble Valley 509.1 (310), 371.2 (226)

Preston 504.4 (722), 397.5 (569)

Manchester 504.3 (2788), 427.4 (2363)

Tameside 499.4 (1131), 355.4 (805)

Rotherham 497.7 (1321), 354.2 (940)

Bradford 496.9 (2682), 374.8 (2023)

Pendle 492.9 (454), 440.8 (406)

The figures for Burnley, 26th on the list, are 458.8 (408), 531.9 (473).

Case rates are continuing to fall for some of the hardest hit areas.

Rates Nottingham dropped from 677.1 to 459 with 1528 new cases, while Liverpool saw a decrease to 510.0 to 605.8 with 2540 new cases.

Newcastle and Exeter are also seeing a fall in case in rates.