first discovered in the South East just before Christmas - has now become the most common variant in Bolton, accounting for more than 85 per cent of positive tests.
And, despite weeks of lockdown, the steady fall of infection rates in the population has begun to stall this week.The borough now has a rate of 288.3 new cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 people, much higher than the rates in neighbouring Wigan (201.2) and Bury (202.1).The number of new infections is also a long way above the English national average of 194, figures from NHS England show.One of the factors contributing to these numbers is the persistently high proportion of positive tests among working-age people - from those in their 20s up to people in their 60s - Lynn Donkin,.