BARROW has the second highest Covid infection rate in the country, new figures show.

England's rate of new cases of Covid-19 has climbed to its highest level since the summer.

A total of 201,660 cases were recorded in the seven days to October 7 - the equivalent of 356.6 per 100,000 people.

This is the highest figure since July 24, when the seven-day rate stood at 375.1.

Data for the most recent four days available has been excluded as it is incomplete.

Two-thirds of local authority areas in England are currently recording a rise in rates, with Trafford in Greater Manchester having the highest rate in the UK, at 832.6.

In second place is Barrow(782.3), followed by Kettering (775.8) and Wellingborough (735.5), both in Northamptonshire.

England's rate of new cases has been on a broadly upwards trend for the last few weeks, after dipping to 256.5 on September 16.

The rate has never been lower than 250 since the start of July.

In early May, at the end of the second wave of coronavirus, England's rate of new cases had fallen as low as 19.3 per 100,000 people.

The third wave began later that month, driven by the more transmissable Delta variant of Covid-19 combined with an easing of lockdown restrictions.

While the current rate of new cases in England is the highest for nearly 11 weeks, it is still well below the second-wave peak of 677.4, recorded on January 4.

Barrow MP Simon Fell urged people to keep safe and try to prevent further spread of the virus, attributing high rates to large amounts of testing.

He said: "Thankfully this rate appears to be trending down already, and the high rate is no doubt a reflection of the high rate of testing in the community at the shipyard and NHS sites too.

"Regardless, it is a reminder that the virus is still present and maintaining good behaviours will go a long way to breaking chains of infection."

All figures are based on the latest data published on the Government's coronavirus dashboard.