The coronavirus infection rate in our area has risen for the second week in a row, despite the current lockdown restrictions.

In the week leading up to Saturday November 14th, Frodsham was the only local ward where fewer infections were recorded than the previous seven day period. 28 new cases brought the town's coronavirus rate to 301.37 per 100,000 people, a slight decrease on the 333.66 of the week before.

Meanwhile, in Helsby, the number of cases doubled from eight to 16 last week, putting the village's rate at 319.74 per 100,000.

The Covid-19 infection rates in Gowy Rural and Sandstone wards also rose to 291.23 and 264.44 per 100,000 respectively.

In Gowy Rural, which encompasses the villages of Elton and Ince, 27 cases marked an increase of five on the week before, whereas in Sandstone, the number of new infections almost doubled from seven to 13.

Frodsham, Gowy Rural and Sandstone all sit below the average coronavirus rate for the Cheshire West as a whole, which was 303 cases per 100,000 residents as of Saturday 14th November.

Last week, a total of 1039 new cases were recorded in the borough, as compared to 918 cases in Cheshire East, which currently has a rate of 239 per 100,000 of the population. These figures show that Covid-19 is becoming more prevalent in both of the county's boroughs.