ONE more person has died at the Royal Bolton Hospital after contracting coronavirus.

A patient death reported on Saturday has been added to the borough's official statistics.

Since March, 399 people have died at the borough's hospital after contracting the virus.

The update came as the infection rate across the borough continued to drop significantly.

In the week up to December 1, 545 new cases were recorded across the borough – equivalent to 189.5 cases per 100,000 people.

The seven day period ending November 24, the week before, saw 788 new cases recorded – a rate of 274.

Infection rates have not been this low since the start of September, when the seven-day period up to September 7 recorded 186.1 cases per 100,000 people.

Rates peaked in the week up to October 26, when 568.2 new cases were seen per 100,000 people.

Over the weekend, 142 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed.

On Saturday, 87 people received a positive test result, whilst 55 new cases were confirmed yesterday.

So far, 15,515 people in Bolton have contracted covid-19.