Greater Manchester’s coronavirus hotspots have been revealed

Figures released on June 4th suggested the North West had almost twice England’s overall infection rate, but that the rates varied considerably within districts. 

Now Greater Manchester officials have been analysing the data to work out a localised picture of COVID-19 levels within communities.

Andy Burnham has announced that council leaders are working on a ‘heat map’ that can be used by the public to workout their personal risk levels within their community, the Manchester Evening News reports.

There has been no date announced for the release of this, but the heat map will use a range of different figures so is likely to take a while to compile. 

Dennis Turner / Geograph

According to figures circulating in the council over the last few days, Tameside and Bury had the highest COVID-19 infection rates in Greater Manchester, while Stockport had the lowest, followed by Salford.

For the period 21st May – 4th June, Public Health England figures showed that Tameside had an infection rate of 28.7 per 100,000, while Bury had 26.2 and Rochdale 25.6.

The overall English average for the same period was 9.2

In other boroughs in our region, Salford had a rate of 9.7, Bolton 10.4, Manchester 15.2, Oldham 16.9, Trafford 18.1, Wigan 18.6, and Greater Manchester in general had a rate of 16.8.

Meanwhile the lowest rate, according to the data, was in Stockport, with a rate of 6.8. 

Those numbers have influenced different council’s approaches to opening schools for instance, with Tameside and Bury council being more cautious regarding reopening them.

Tameside and Bury council acknowledged the numbers, stressing that it was only one of a range of measurements assessing the situation, and also pointing out the testing rates within those areas will be a contributing factor. 

Tameside, for instance, has experienced an expansion of the eligibility criteria for testing so they are physically able to test and therefore pick up more cases in the community. 

Within these tests, according to a Tameside council spokesperson, people who are asymptomatic are also picked up on the test as positive, particularly in care homes. 

Andy Burnham expressed his concerns with the ‘R’ rate, as it ‘doesn’t necessarily on its own help the public understand what’s going on in their community’.

A Bury council spokesman said: “These figures are just one source of data that we use to try and gain a sense of the local picture, none of which are perfect.

“These figures are reflective of the number of tests carried out within the period which may be different in different areas and over time.

“Work is underway to develop a more meaningful data set which will help us and the public better understand the number of cases in the borough and local trends.”

Prof Kate Ardern, Wigan Council’s director for public health said: “We continue to monitor various sources to assess the impact Covid-19 is having within our borough and the number of new cases obviously plays a big part in our evaluation.