'If you don’t act now we are looking at a lockdown’: bosses issue 11th hour warning to residents ahead of potential government intervention in Oldham

Schools across England are due to reopen on Tuesday but the pandemic means that it will be very different for returning pupils.In Blue Coat school, an oversubscribed secondary school in Oldham town centre, the main challenge has been around the logistics of how to separate and keep safe its 1,750 pupils and 150 staff. Maximising space has been the biggest issue for leaders preparing for all pupils to return to the Egerton Street academy on September 1.Gone are the days of specialised department

remain in place in Oldham - which still has the highest infection rate in the region.Residents there can no longer socialise with anyone outside their household and can only use public transport if essential.Wigan, which has the lowest infection rate, remains lifted out of the increased measures.Meanwhile Salford, Bury, Manchester, Tameside and Rochdale all remain in local lockdown.Residents in these areas must continue to adhere to the rules which prohibit two households from meeting indoors or

Tougher restrictions which ban people from socialising with anyone they don’t live with are to remain in place for a further week in Oldham, the government has confirmed.The number of new coronavirus cases in the borough is now on a downward trend after spiking dramatically in the first week of August.The infection rate had climbed to 108 per 100,000 people, with 266 cases recorded in the seven days to August 11.Now the rate has now more than halved, down to 51.9 for the week ending August 24,

here, and it'll let you know the name of your local ward and if that ward falls in Trafford or Stockport.

Greater Manchester now has the lowest number of coronavirus cases since the end of July.There were 788 positive tests for the virus across all ten boroughs in the week ending August 24, the lowest number since July 28.Rates are calculated up to three days ago because of the delay in reporting cases.The infection rate is continuing to fall in Oldham, Rochdale, Salford and Bolton, with the number of cases falling in seven of the region's boroughs.Cases are still rising in Wigan, with an extra 10

reviewed the blanket restrictions across the whole of the region and decided to make two key changes.

The latest data shows the city has 42.7 cases per 100,000, with the minimum threshold to become a 'red alert' at 50 per 100,000. Areas of Oldham, which has been one of the worst affected places in England, remain particularly badly hit, with 17 new cases this week in Chadderton North, 12 in Oldham Town North, 13 in Busk, 24 in Alexandra Park and a massive 30 in Werneth.In spite of stricter local lockdown measures in the area, Oldham accounts for 96 of Greater Manchester’s new cases.

Manchester Evening News."At the end of the day, you can sit in a pub close to people you don't know, but you can't sit in a pub close to people you do know. It's been tough not being able to see family."What concerns me the most is how it's going to affect schools reopening.

has announced tighter restrictions in Oldham, Pendle and Blackburn, while releasing Wigan, Darwen and Rossendale from current measures. Birmingham and Northampton have been added to the government's watch list following an increase in cases.

Oldham has been made subject to extra measures around social distancing - but how long will they last for? The M.E.N learned on Friday (August 21) that the town will escape a full Leicester-style economic lockdown, and instead people will be told not to socialise with other households anywhere.This includes in houses, gardens, pubs and restaurants and at outdoor public spaces such as parks.It is understood that Oldhamers are now also being advised only to use public transport for essential

Oldham had been teetering on the brink of full Leicester-style lockdown due to high infection rates, but after targeted testing and other measures brought numbers down significantly in the space of a week, Matt Hancock yesterday agreed that it would not be necessary.But what are the new measures that have been announced?It is understood people in Oldham will be told not to socialise with other households anywhere, a stricter message than the present rules, which had still allowed people to meet

after the health secretary responded to rising Covid infection rates in all but one of them. Since then, the consensus for which Greater Manchester's system likes to be known has come under pressure.

map showing cases in smaller districts, the hotspots in Oldham have been particularly concentrated in two areas - Alexandra Park and Werneth.

A house where ‘lockdown parties’ were held and police officers were assaulted when called to the address has been shut down by the town hall.In July, officers from Greater Manchester Police attended a property at 102 Elm Road in Limehurst Village following reports of 30 people partying.But while visiting the house in Oldham the officers were assaulted.The council says it was the latest incident in a string of anti-social and criminal activities at the dwelling over the past year.And it was also

interactive map showing the number of positive Covid test results in each neighbourhood in England using data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).Alexandra Park in Oldham has the highest number of cases in the country, according to the map, recording 72 cases between Monday, August 3 and Sunday, August 9.Neighbouring Werneth, to the south east of Oldham town centre, recorded 37 for the same week, higher than two of the hardest hit areas of Leicester and Halifax.Meanwhile, the number of

Covid-19 cases in Oldham has been rising week on week and its positivity rate is currently at around 5pc – the highest in the country Figures released on Tuesday show there has been another spike of 255 cases in the week up to August 8, up from the previous seven days’ total of 137.The infection rate is now standing at 107.5 cases per 100,000 people in the borough – as high as it was during the height of the pandemic in mid April.Get the latest updates from across Greater Manchester direct to