Individual neighbourhoods with lower Covid rates could start to be removed from Greater Manchester’s restrictions next week

Parts of Greater Manchester remain under local lockdown measures - but for how much longer?Restrictions have been in place for more than five weeks now, and only two boroughs have seen a full lifting of local lockdown measures.Residents of Wigan and Stockport are now under national guidance while people living in Manchester, Trafford, Salford, Tameside, Rochdale and Bury are still prevented from mixing with other households in their homes and gardens.Oldham and Bolton are seeing the strictest

The mayor of Greater Manchester has spelled out how he believes tighter coronavirus measures should be lifted across the city-region.Andy Burnham has called for an end to ‘crude blanket restrictions’ that are becoming ‘less effective’ despite initially helping to stop rising infection rates.A ‘more sophisticated’ exit strategy which puts local leaders at the heart of decision-making has been proposed, with Mr Burnham arguing that they are better placed to know when to impose tougher restrictions

just as it tips into the ‘red’ category for infection levels, the threshold for which is 50 cases per 100,000.

will continue to be advised to avoid mixing with anyone from anther household anywhere. This is because it still has the highest infection rate in the region.

Trafford has gone back up sharply in the last couple of days. The weekly case total is now over 25 per 100,000 people, which takes the borough above the threshold to be placed on amber alert on the government watchlist for local intervention.The data published this afternoon gives infection rates up to Tuesday August 25 as there is a 3-4 day delay for cases to be fully reported.

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

Bury and Bolton. From Wednesday (September 2), both Burnley and Hyndburn will no longer have local restrictions in place stopping people from visiting residents' homes and private gardens.

hereIt is understood restrictions will be lifted next week.

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.

coronavirus infection rate is increasing in Bury, the latest government data reveals.

hereThe infection rate across nine out of the ten boroughs is continuing to fall."I think we are beginning to see the numbers move in the right direction and that includes Oldham, which saw a noticeable fall in the number of cases this week, and we have begun to see falls in other Greater Manchester boroughs as well," Mr Burnham told the BBC."We had the restrictions introduced about three weeks ago and I would say we have begun to see these restrictions are now working, so fingers crossed we can

Oldham is set to escape a full economic lockdown, the M.E.N.

higher number of cases than Alexander Park and Werneth.But both Oldham neighbourhoods have seen a fall in the number of infections over the last week with Alexandra Park's figure dropping by more than a third from 72 to 44.Elsewhere there's a concentration of cases around central and east Manchester with Piccadilly, Ancoats, Ardwick, Beswick, Openshaw, Belle Vue, West Gorton and Levenshulme North all reporting between 10 and 13 cases.Meanwhile, the number of cases in Wigan remains the lowest in

hereA further 154 cases were announced today across Greater Manchester, which is the highest daily increase for the last three days.The data takes into account the seven days up to Saturday, August 15 as it takes three days for the cases to be reported.In the week up to August 15 there were 1,001 cases across Greater Manchester - slightly less than the previous week, when there 1,004 cases.Manchester reported 263 cases in the week ending August 15, which is 57 more than the previous week, an

published by NHS England, includes hospital discharges from March 20,  the first day of national lockdown, until August 9.

have managed to drive rates down since the measures were introduced at the end of July. The last time the government reviewed its local lockdown measures was on August 13, according to the Department of Health.

Up to 6,000 children who normally would have been referred to social services in Greater Manchester have potentially been missed during lockdown.Social care professionals are calling for a change in approach to tackle the ‘hidden harm’ faced by children who are stuck at home with abusive family members while schools remain closed.Alison Alexander, the CEO of children’s services support organisation Cornerstone, said referrals have dropped in many parts of the UK by 50pc, and by up to 75pc in

hereInfection rates are calculated up to three days ago, in this case, the week ending August 13, because it takes a couple of days for the test results to be reported.In the week up to August 13, there were 998 positive tests across Greater Manchester.The Oldham infection rate has fallen to below 100, however the week-on-week trend for the borough is still upwards.