The thousands of 'hidden' children in Greater Manchester who have slipped through the net in lockdown

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has struck a deal with operators to run around 300 additional bus journeys every weekday. Duplicate buses that will be used exclusively by school and college students will have their route numbers marked with an ‘S’ to show they are school services.

near 100 per cent increase in case numbers in the last week.

'sudden, concerning and unpredicted', has prompted council and health leaders to call an emergency meeting on Tuesday morning. Separate government figures show there were 40 new cases recorded on Thursday in Bolton.

both boroughs are due to be released from local lockdown.The boroughs, along with Tameside, have seen a marked increase in cases - all three areas are in the 'amber zone' for infection rates.A total of 272 positive coronavirus cases were added in Greater Manchester today.Cases have doubled week on week in Bolton (in the week ending Aug 28).

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

Manchester Evening News understands. A senior source confirmed the news, which was later announced by the government on Friday evening.It means people will soon be able to visit friends and family members in different households and more businesses will be able to reopen in the town.

The government has announced that more boroughs of Greater Manchester are following Wigan out of local lockdown after the latest review.Today, health secretary Matt Hancock announced that Trafford, Stockport and Bolton would be released from the additional measures covering the majority of Greater Manchester, and other areas of the north.It comes after restrictions were lifted in Wigan bringing the borough in line with the rest of England from Wednesday (August 26) after last week's

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.

Manchester Evening New that the borough will no longer be subject to the extra regulations which have applied to the region for the past month.The government is yet to confirm when the change will come into effect.It means people living in the borough will once again be allowed to socialise in groups of up to two households indoors.They will also be able to stay overnight at somebody else’s home - but must try to social distance.The relaxation means they can also book close contact services such

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

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said that Bolton has the backing of Greater Manchester's leaders.He said: "There's a very much changed position in Bolton and Stockport and consistent with what we said last week where Wigan had a very different position, we're obviously following that approach this week."There's a political consensus within those boroughs now to ask the government to remove the restriction on social gatherings in the home introduced at the back end of July."Mr Burnham will

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

Coronavirus rates are now lower in Greater Manchester than they were at the start of the local lockdown, with the latest data suggesting a regional spike in cases has been reversed.Extra restrictions on the ten boroughs in the region have been in place for three full weeks after being announced on July 30.At the time the local lockdown was declared, infection rates were rising in all ten boroughs of Greater Manchester, and this trend continued broadly for the first two weeks after the measures

the Manchester Evening News understands.

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

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

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.