The rate at which Covid is rising has slowed down in Oldham, and is now around half the national rate.

The latest figures released by Public Health England show that there were 93 positive tests in the town today.

The data means that over the last week there have been 527 case in the area, which is a rise of 14.6 per cent from the seven days before this.

Across the UK as a whole cases are rising by 31.4 per cent.

The rate of increase in Oldham had been above 30 per cent for most of last week, so the latest data indicates the rate of the rise of Covid is slowing, even if numbers are still rising.

The number of people per 100,000 in the town with the virus stands at 206.7, which is more than double the nationwide figure of 89.3.

There were no deaths in the town today which came within 28 days of a positive test for the virus.

Nationwide there were 5 fatalities today, and there have been 74 over the last week which is a rise of 12.1 per cent from the seven days before this.

The latest figures show 136,241 people in Oldham have now had their first dose of the vaccine, which is 70.3 per cent of those eligible.

Of these 100,585 have had their second dose, which is 51.9 per cent of those eligible.

The vaccination rate is lagging behind the UK one, where 81.9 per cent have had their first dose and 59.7 per cent are fully vaccinated.