The rate of Covid in Oldham has plummeted at the end of the Easter weekend and the area has had no deaths over the last seven days from the virus.

The latest data from the Office for National Statistics shows that there were 13 cases in the town today.

The figure means there have been 163 over the last week, which is a welcome fall of 40.1 per cent.

Across the country cases are dropping 33.5 per cent.

The number of people in Oldham with Covid per 100,000 has also fallen and now stands at 95.7, which is still more than double the national figure of 44.

The number of cases in the area had fallen steadily since the UK entered its latest lockdown in January but had risen since schools reopened.

The daily total todayis the lowest this year.

The peak during the latest wave came on January 4 when there were 177 positive tests in Oldham.

The highest point of the whole pandemic came on November 2 when 409 cases were found.

There were no deaths in the area which came within 28 deaths of a positive test, and there have been none over the last seven days.

There were two fatalities in the week before this.

However the latest figure for admissions to the Pennine Acute Hospitals shows there were 34 people admitted with Covid over the last week, a rise of 21.4 per cent.

The R rate, the rate at which one person passes the virus onto another, has also risen again in the north west region.

It had previously stood at between 0.7 and 1 and is now understood to be between 0.8 and 1.

When this figure rises above one the virus spreads but below one it dies out eventually.

Across the whole of the UK the R rate is between 0.7 and 0.9.

The fall in deaths shows the success of the vaccination programme.

The latest figures show that 31,581,623 people have now received their first dose of the vaccine, and 5,432,126 have had their second dose.