Covid-19 Greater Manchester: ‘I’ve never known so many people with Covid at one time’ says health boss

Coronavirus infection rates continue to rise across all 10 boroughs of Greater Manchester.

Trafford currently has the highest coronavirus infection rate in Greater Manchester, recording a rate of 786.7 cases per 100,000 people as of the week ending 20 March. The lowest infection rate is in Rochdale, where the rate is 397.5 cases per 100,000 people.

In Greater Manchester as a whole, the infection rate is now 550.6 cases per 100,000 population, a rate that is still lower than the national average, which is 842.7 cases per 100,000 people.

Manchester’s Director of Public Health David Regan said the end of Covid restrictions has had an impact on the spike in Covid-19 cases, adding that Omicron and BA.2 is “much more transmissible”.

He added: “I personally have never known so many people with Covid at one time”.

Earlier this week it was announced that people aged 75 and over, residents in care homes and those with weakened immune systems can now book an extra booster jab against Covid in England. A wider booster programme is expected this autumn.

It comes as latest figures show that the UK is seeing rising cases of Covid, with an estimated one in every 20 people infected.

In the week ending on 20 March, a total of 567 patients were admitted to Greater Manchester NHS hospitals with Covid-19.

Mr Regan said that while “there was a slight increase in the last few weeks” it is “not at the levels we saw in previous waves”

He added: “I think we are holding steady, we monitor this on a daily basis.”