Greater Manchester is battling 'new Covid wave' with rates in 11 areas surging to over 1,000

Covid-19 infection rates are continuing to rise in Greater Manchester as it reckons with a 'new wave' of the virus, according to the region's lead health boss. Some 11 areas in the city-region are now reporting case rates of more than 1,000 per 100,000 people.

Wards in Oldham and Salford are among those in the list - with swathes of Stockport and Trafford being hardest hit as Bramhall South and Woodford peaks over 1,400 cases. But the spiralling case rates come even as health leaders warn the figures could be a 'massive underreporting' of case numbers as fewer people are likely to be testing.

That warning follows the government's rollback of the final Covid-19 safety measures at the end of February, which included the end of mandated isolation for anyone testing positive for the virus. At the end of March, free mass testing will also end, again causing concerns that those with symptoms will be even less likely to test and will result in a lack of accurate data.

READ MORE: Patients are asking a GP to prescribe nutritional shakes because they can't afford to buy food

Here are the areas of Greater Manchester currently reporting case rates above 1,000 per 100,000 people as of the seven days leading up to March 23 - the latest data published by the government's interactive map :

Public health officials will have Office of National Statistics and hospital data about Covid-19 to monitor incoming infections once free testing ends on March 31. But these figures only give a delayed view of the virus spread - they 'won't provide us with sufficient early warning', said Manchester's public health director, David Regan, at a council meeting earlier this month.

Both Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and the region's lead