ANOTHER 354 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Bolton over the weekend, as the infection rate appears to slow.

Yesterday, 181 new cases were added to the borough’s total, with an additional 173 infections recorded in figures from Saturday.

On Friday, 258 new cases were recorded, meaning the number of new infections dropped by a third.

Although the seven-day infection rate has yet to see the same significant drop, Bolton is now recording less than 500 infections per 100,000 people – something it has not managed since October 20.

In the week up to November 11, 1,313 new infections were recorded, for a rate of 460.

Data for the most recent four days has been excluded as it is incomplete and does not reflect the true number of cases.

Over the weekend, six more patients at Royal Bolton Hospital died after contracting covid-19.

These deaths were confirmed as coronavirus-related in figures posted on Saturday, whilst three more deaths were added to the borough’s statistics on Friday.

A total of 322 people have now died at the borough’s hospital since March with coronavirus.