Coronavirus infection rates across the whole of East Lancashire have fallen again, for the second time in a row.

In the latest figures, for the seven days to January 17, Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, the Ribble Valley and Rossendale all saw their infections rates drop significantly. 

However, as we mentioned yesterday, the region is not out of the woods yet, as all of East Lancashire's boroughs remain high up the infection rate leaderboard, with Burnley, Hyndburn and Blackburn with Darwen sitting in the top 50. 

Pendle now sits in 55th place, while Rossendale and the Ribble Valley are just out of the top 100.

Of the 315 local areas in England, 31 (10 per cent) have seen a rise in case rates, 283 (90 per cent) have seen a fall and one is unchanged.

Knowsley in Merseyside continues to have the highest rate in England, with 1,612 new cases recorded in the seven days to January 17 – the equivalent of 1,068.5 cases per 100,000 people.

This is down from 1,367.5 cases per 100,000 people in the seven days to January 10.

Slough in Berkshire has the second highest rate, down from 1,093.4 to 981.7, with 1,468 new cases.

Sandwell in the West Midlands is in third place, down from 951.1 to 920.4, with 3,023 new cases.

The infection rates for each area in East Lancashire, for the seven days to January 17 are:

Burnley, 728.7, (648), 913.2, (812) 25

Hyndburn, 698.4, (566), 712.0, (577) 32

Blackburn with Darwen, 652.0, (976), 716.1, (1072) 50

Pendle, 637.3, (587), 814.2, (750)

Ribble Valley, 482.9, (294), 550.2, (335)

Rossendale, 479.8, (343), 558.2, (399)

Of the remaining boroughs in Lancashire, for the second day running only Preston and Blackpool have recorded increases in their infection rates in the seven days to January 17.

Fylde, Lancaster, West Lancashire, Chorley, South Ribble and Wyre have all seen a decrease in their rates.

The infection rates in the remaining eight Lancashire boroughs are as follows:

Preston, 484.2, (693), 479.3, (686)

Lancaster, 480.0, (701), 504.7, (737)

South Ribble, 477.5, (529), 488.3, (541)

West Lancashire, 463.7, (530), 487.3, (557)

Chorley, 361.2, (427), 391.7, (463)

Wyre, 343.5, (385), 463.0, (519)

Blackpool, 314.1, (438), 307.6, (429)

Fylde, 297.1, (240), 323.1, (261)

The 10 areas with the biggest week-on-week rise in rates are:

1. Erewash (up from 397.8 to 474.1)

2. Redditch (618.1 to 690.8)

3. Hinckley & Bosworth (320.0 to 367.7)

4. North Warwickshire (372.3 to 419.8)

5. Somerset West & Taunton (343.6 to 390.0)

6. North West Leicestershire (333.0 to 376.4)

7. Solihull (499.6 to 535.2)

8. Plymouth (298.7 to 326.2)

9. Ryedale (276.3 to 301.6)

10. Leicester (542.9 to 566.6)