THE Covid-19 infection rate in Shropshire is now below 30 out of every 100,000 in new weekly stats collated by the Press Association.

The county's infection rate is 28.5 for the seven days up to March 19 with the number of new cases in that time period also dropping below 100.

For the seven days previous, Shropshire's stats were an infection rate of 35.9 with 116 news cases.

In Telford and Wrekin, there has been a small rise in rates from 26.7 to 32.2 and 10 more nee cases – a first rise for the region.

Of the 315 local areas in England, 120 (38 per cent) have seen a rise in case rates, 188 (60 per cent) have seen a fall and seven are unchanged.

Barnsley has the highest rate in England, with 478 new cases recorded in the seven days to March 19 – the equivalent of 193.6 cases per 100,000 people.

This is up from 153.9 per 100,000 in the seven days to March 12.

Corby in Northamptonshire has the second highest rate, unchanged week-on-week at 182.8, with 132 new cases.

North Lincolnshire has the third highest rate, up from 126.5 to 167.2, with 288 new cases.