Long-awaited new high school in Radcliffe one of four to be built across Greater Manchester

direct to your inboxCoronavirus has brought heartache to thousands of families across Greater Manchester.More than 5,200 people have died in our region's hospitals alone. And tragically, this number is continuing to rise.

direct to your inboxThe coronavirus infection rate has risen in two boroughs of Greater Manchester. Bury and Tameside are the only parts of the region where the number of new cases has increased, the latest Public Health England (PHE) figures show.

Big Grillie Style, the arrival of Burgerize to Manchester, and a new partnership between Crazy Pedro's and Eat New York. Michelin-star restaurant Mana has turned itself into a burger takeaway during lockdown, and Fat Hippo has made its way over from the north east to join the city centre just this week.

direct to your inboxTameside is one of only 14 places in England showing a week-on-week rise in coronavirus cases.The borough recorded 462 cases in the week ending February 15 - that’s 54 more than in the previous week.It’s the biggest increase in case numbers in the past week out of anywhere in the country although the spike in its overall rate, which has gone up by 10 percent, is not the biggest national percentage rise.Elsewhere in Greater Manchester, Bury had 403 cases in this seven-day

direct to your inboxThe NHS has confirmed the deaths of 18 more patients in hospitals in Greater Manchester who had tested positive for coronavirus.Nationally, a further 309 hospital deaths were reported on Thursday.Of those, 42 were in hospitals in the north west region.Six further deaths have been recorded at Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, with five more at Stockport NHS Foundation Trust.Three further deaths were recorded at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust and at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh

hereBury's rate increased by a single case.Oldham and Wigan also has a higher rate than yesterday, but cases are still down when the figures are compared with the previous week.The national average in England is 137.4 cases per 100,000 of the population.Manchester and Trafford recorded the highest week-on-week fall in cases.Bolton has the highest infection rate in Greater Manchester - at 236.1 cases per 100,000.Trafford - on 137.8 cases - has the lowest.Of the 315 local areas in England, 16 (5

direct to your inboxLatest figures show Bury is one of just 12 places in England where coronavirus infection rates have gone up.Rates are continuing to fall in nine of Greater Manchester's 10 boroughs.But in Bury, figures published by Public Health England on Monday showed infection rates to be up slightly.

Coronavirus infection rates are continuing to fall in all but one area of Greater Manchester.The rate in Bolton is currently 281.7 cases per 100,000 people in the week up to February 9.There were 810 cases recorded in the town that week - a one percent increase on the previous week.Bolton still has the highest rate in Greater Manchester and is one of only 15 local areas in England showing a week-on-week increase.Rutland, in the east Midlands, currently has the highest infection rate in the

direct to your inboxA new initiative aimed at transforming black-owned business in Greater Manchester is set to be launched next month.The programme, ran by the Black United Representation Network (BURN), will be providing black-owned businesses in the region with their own board of advisors.With a limited number of spaces available only 10 businesses will be able to take part in the scheme.Those looking to apply for the programme must fit the criteria of being a black-owned business, have at

Trafford was home to six of the most expensive homes sold in the region last year – the priciest being a £4.6m detached property.  At the other end of the scale, many of the cheapest homes in Greater Manchester were sold in Oldham, Bolton, Rochdale and Wigan last year.The cheapest sold in Farnworth, Bolton for £24,838 in July. Last year, the threshold for Stamp Duty in England was raised to £500,000, with equivalent taxes in Wales and Scotland raised to a threshold of £250,000. The tax holiday

direct to your inbox The latest coronavirus infection rates across Greater Manchester show Salford remains the borough which has the highest rate. On Thursday, Salford had the highest infection rates in the region, as it overtook Manchester.Rates in every area are still continuing to fall, reflecting an England-wide trend.Figures from Public Health England show that overall the rate of infection for England is 329.5 cases per 100,000 people.

direct to your inboxSalford now has the highest coronavirus infection rates in the region overtaking Manchester, the latest data shows.The latest Public Health England figures show that rates in every area are still continuing to fall.The overall rate for the region currently stands at 304.7 per 100,000, a fall of 19 per cent week-on-week.This is lower than the national average which was recorded at 353.7 per 100,000 in the week ending January 24.The rate appears to be falling faster nationally

direct to your inboxCoronavirus infection rates are continuing to fall in every borough across Greater Manchester, the latest data shows.The latest Public Health England figures show the overall rate for the region currently stands at 310.5 per 100,000, a fall of 20 per cent.This is lower than the national average which was recorded at 371.8 in the week ending January 23.Though the rate appears to be falling faster nationally, dropping 23 per cent week-on-week.Across Greater Manchester, Covid-19

direct to your inboxAround 70pc of Covid-19 cases in Tameside are believed to be caused by the new more contagious strain of the virus.Health chiefs say that the new variant of coronavirus, which was first detected in Kent, is now ‘dominant’ in the borough and across much of Greater Manchester.Speaking at a meeting of the health and wellbeing board, director of public health Jeanelle de Gruchy said they needed to be ‘really vigilant’ against the new strain.“We’re seeing high numbers of outbreaks

direct to your inboxInfection rates are continuing to fall across every Greater Manchester borough.Each of the region’s ten boroughs are below England's average of 452.5 per 100,000 people in the week ending January 18.Only the city of Manchester has a rate above 400 and Oldham - which once had the highest rates in the country - is now sitting at 282.6 cases per 100,000 people for the same time period.Here in Greater Manchester, the borough of Trafford had the biggest drop in cases in the seven

direct to your inboxThe Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital is to open emergency Covid beds for adults in a sign of the unprecedented pressure facing Greater Manchester’s hospitals.Sir Richard Leese, the region’s health chief, said the situation in the system was now ‘critical’ as NHS bosses have scrambled to discharge as many people as possible ahead of a sustained peak over the coming three weeks.Crisis meetings have been held to determine the ability to scale up beds, as Salford Royal and

direct to your inboxThe NHS has sadly confirmed the deaths of 29 more patients in hospitals in Greater Manchester who had tested positive for Covid-19.The region's hospital death toll now stands at 4,757.NHS bosses said on Friday a further 993 people who tested positive for the virus have died in hospitals across England.It brings the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 65,104.In the north west, a further 94 hospital deaths were reported, the NHS said on Friday.A

direct to your inboxA further 27 people have died in hospitals in Greater Manchester after testing positive for coronavirus.The region's hospital death toll has now reached 4,731, the latest NHS figures show. A total of 99 Covid-related deaths were recorded across North West hospitals in the latest 24-hour data.

Wigan, a woman became stuck in her car with water up to the bonnet.  In Radcliffe, fire crews were called to a river that had burst its banks.

direct to your inboxA number of flood warnings and alerts are in place across Greater Manchester and its surrounding area after hundreds of residents were evacuated from their homes overnight. Storm Christoph has brought heavy, torrential rain to the region yesterday (Wednesday) before snow settled in overnight.