Strangeways prison hit with major Covid-19 outbreak as 200 new cases confirmed among staff and inmates

Coronavirus infection rates are rising in seven boroughs of Greater Manchester, with one area seeing a significant jump in cases.The latest figures from Public Health England show that cases have risen by 20 per cent in Tameside in the seven days ending March 11.Political leaders, including the mayor of Greater Manchester, suggest this is likely to be connected to the return of schools on March 8.Pupils across the country are being asked to test themselves for Covid-19 several times a week -

direct to your inboxThe transformation of Wythenshawe Hospital into a state-of-the-art ‘health village’ with affordable housing for nurses and an ‘aparthotel’ for patients has moved a step closer.A final masterplan to build a 5G-enabled ‘smart hospital’ with world-class scientific research and training facilities will be signed off by Manchester council’s executive next week.The vision set out by Manchester Foundation Trust (MFT) and developer Bruntwood would take 10 to 15 years to realise, and

seven schools in the region had been affected by positive cases among pupils, staff or both. Now another seven schools have been added to the list, including The Friars Primary in Salford, which has closed to all but Early Years pupils, and Shevington High in Wigan, which has sent the whole of Year 8 home after 'multiple' positive cases.

Westfield Community School in Wigan, we've since been told about further cases at the following schools: Some of the cases have been confirmed via the rapid lateral flow tests now being carried out on students in secondaries and colleges and on staff working with all age groups in education. These pick up on those people who have the virus but aren't experiencing any symptoms.Among those is Co-op Academy Failsworth, where there was a positive case in Year 10.

Bury.

direct to your inboxMore than 140 cases of Covid-19 have been found as part of localised mass testing in Manchester - though none involve a ‘variant of concern’ found in parts of the city so far.Testing programmes in the north and south of the city have been successful in the ongoing efforts to prevent people unknowingly spreading the virus.But public health officials are ‘frustrated’ with the speed at which positive tests are being analysed by laboratories to see if they matched the E484k

Wigan in the seven days up to February 27. The figure is up from 24 the previous week and marks a 112pc increase.According to figures from Public Health England, the infection rate for Abram & Bickershaw has soared to 604.6 cases per 100,000 people, the highest rate anywhere in the region.The M.E.N.

direct to your inboxThis is the car from which a gunman opened fire in Manchester's St Peter's Square.The red Mondeo had been stolen from the Milnrow area of Rochdale three days earlier. At least four shots were aimed at a silver Astra which then crashed into a lamppost.

direct to your inboxThe International Football Association Board (IFAB) has announced another change to the handball rule that will come into effect from the start of July.Football’s leading lawmakers have now confirmed that because the interpretation of handball incidents have “not always been consistent”, the rule has been altered.A statement read: “Accidental handball that leads to a team-mate scoring a goal or having a goal-scoring opportunity will no longer be considered an offence.”Members

previously reported how cases had been detected at HMP Hindley, Strangeways and HMP Forest Bank.

Wigan man who was killed on the streets of Greece has finally arrived home more than two years later. Lee Robinson, 41, was initially buried as an unidentified person after being stabbed to death in Athens in December 2018.

direct to your inboxMore than 30 new Covid-19 cases have been found in an area of north Manchester where a new strain of the virus was discovered. The cases were discovered as part of a mass testing programme to contain the further spread of the virus in Moston and Harpurhey, which is being wound down today (March 3).

direct to your inboxThe number of Covid-19 cases continues to fall overall across most of Manchester but almost a third of the city has seen an increase in recent days.Manchester’s infection rate is among the lowest in the city-region after recording 811 positive Covid tests in the week ending February 24This is 226 fewer than the previous week - a 22 per cent decrease - though its overall infection rate remains higher than the England average.The latest figures show the biggest rise in cases in

In Tameside, the latest infection rate is 184.6 cases per 100,000 people and the number of cases has gone down by 12 per cent. There was a fall of 14 per cent in cases in Manchester over the week ending February 23.

direct to your inboxA national consultation over proposed new counter-terrorism legislation was being launched today after a campaign in memory of Manchester Arena bomb victim Martyn Hett.Maryn's mother, Figen Murray, hailed the breakthrough as a 'major stride towards making our country safer' - and saving lives.

direct to your inboxBoris Johnson has ruled there will be no international holidays until at least May 7 - but there are still more than 30 flights departing and arriving at Manchester Airport each day, with more than 2,000 passengers travelling on them.Flying in and out of Terminal One, flights are bound for destinations including Amsterdam, Doha, Addis Ababa, Belfast, Frankfurt and Abu Dhabi.

for the easing of lockdown restrictions, starting from next month.

five wings of Forest Bank prison in Salford are in lockdown due to a coronavirus outbreak.That outbreak disrupted proceedings at Manchester Crown Court with one high-profile trial and two sentencing hearings having to be postponed due to defendants not being produced from Forest Bank due to the lockdown.The latest data from the Ministry of Justice shows that there were 846 positive Covid-19 cases among adult prisoners for the week ending 15 February in the UK, down from 1,005 the week before.The