Oldham now has the highest coronavirus infection rate in England, with 1,759 new cases recorded in the seven days to October 31.

This is up from 675.6 cases per 100,000 in the seven days to October 24 and is the equivalent of 741.8 cases per 100,000 people.

Oldham's cases continued to rise this week, knocking Blackburn with Darwen off the top spot in the infection rate chart.

Wigan has the third highest rate, up from 659.6 to 673.3, with 2,213 new cases, while other areas recording big jumps in case rates include Hull (up from 286.4 to 432.7, with 1,124 new cases); Newcastle-under-Lyme (up from 281.2 to 418.7, with 542 new cases); and Dudley (up from 231.0 to 355.4, with 1,143 new cases).

In Wednesday’s update of the rolling seven-day rate of new cases of Covid-19, Oldham takes the top spot, with Salford, Rochdale, Bolton, Bury, Tameside and Manchester all occupying places in the top 20 list.

The figures, for the seven days to October 31, are based on tests carried out in laboratories (pillar one of the Government’s testing programme) and in the wider community (pillar two).

The rate is expressed as the number of new cases per 100,000 people.

Data for the most recent four days (November 1-4) has been excluded as it is incomplete and does not reflect the true number of cases.

The list is based on Public Health England data published on November 4 on the Government’s coronavirus dashboard.

From left to right, the top 20 list reads: name of local authority; rate of new cases in the seven days to October 31; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to October 31; rate of new cases in the seven days to October 24; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to October 24.

Oldham 741.8 (1759), 675.6 (1602)

Blackburn with Darwen 706.1 (1057), 781.6 (1170)

Wigan 673.3 (2213), 659.6 (2168)

Salford 623.6 (1614), 618.2 (1600)

Rochdale 594.4 (1322), 606.5 (1349)

Bolton 563.0 (1619), 549.8 (1581)

Bury 561.8 (1073), 550.3 (1051)

Tameside 533.3 (1208), 509.5 (1154)

Bradford 527.6 (2848), 490.8 (2649)

Rotherham 525.6 (1395), 502.6 (1334)

Doncaster 523.6 (1633), 546.7 (1705)

Barnsley 518.5 (1280), 549.7 (1357)

Kirklees 486.6 (2140), 406.3 (1787)

Hyndburn 483.7 (392), 536.8 (435)

Manchester 473.2 (2616), 505.2 (2793)

Wakefield 464.2 (1617), 428.6 (1493)

Warrington 459.5 (965), 418.5 (879)

Preston 454.8 (651), 506.5 (725)

North East Lincolnshire 444.3 (709), 361.0 (576)

Pendle 444.0 (409), 489.6 (451)