Blackburn with Darwen has dropped to ninth in the coronavirus infection rate charts, for the first time in months, after seeing another massive decrease in the number of cases per 100,000 people.

In the seven days to November 14, the infection rate in the borough fell from 742.8 infections per 100,000 people, to just 548.4.

Wednesday's update of the rolling seven-day rate of new cases of Covid-19 shows that despite still being in the top 20 on the Government's list of areas with the highest rate of infection, Blackburn with Darwen's rate is continuing to decrease.

As the country prepares to exit a national lockdown and move into Tiered restrictions, it means small family gatherings for Christmas across East Lancashire could look promising.

The new figures, released on Wednesday night, are for the seven days to November 14, and are based on tests carried out in laboratories (pillar one of the Government’s testing programme) and in the wider community (pillar two).

The rate is expressed as the number of new cases per 100,000 people.

Data for November 15-18 has been excluded as it is incomplete and does not reflect the true number of cases.

A majority of areas in England (229 out of 315) have seen a rise in case rates, however, the picture is promising in Lancashire as the rates in Pendle, Hyndburn, Rossendale and the Ribble Valley all continued to fall, as did the rates in Preston, Blackpool, Lancaster, Wyre, West Lancashire, Chorley and South Ribble.

Only Fylde saw an increase with Burnley's rate remaining stable at 415.0.

The infection rates in the remaining five East Lancashire boroughs are as follows:

Pendle 449.5 (414), 479.9 (442)

Hyndburn 401.0 (325), 418.3 (339)

Rossendale 405.7 (290), 428.1 (306)

Ribble Valley 303.8 (185), 382.7 (233)

Burnley 415.0 (369), 415.0 (369)

Hull continues to have the highest rate in England, with 1,952 new cases recorded in the seven days to November 14 – the equivalent of 751.4 cases per 100,000 people.

This is up slightly on 744.9 in the seven days to November 7.

Swale in Kent has the second highest rate, up sharply from 304.5 to 618.3, with 928 new cases.

Hartlepool is in third place, where the rate has risen from 418.5 to 590.4, with 553 new cases.

From left to right, the top 20 reads: name of local authority; rate of new cases in the seven days to November 14; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to November 14; rate of new cases in the seven days to November 7; number (in brackets) of new cases recorded in the seven days to November 7.

The list is based on Public Health England data published on November 17 on the Government’s coronavirus dashboard.

Hull 751.4 (1952), 744.9 (1935)

Swale 618.3 (928), 304.5 (457)

Hartlepool 590.4 (553), 418.5 (392)

East Lindsey 567.3 (804), 360.6 (511)

Dudley 564.4 (1815), 467.7 (1504)

Stoke-on-Trent 563.6 (1445), 441.2 (1131)

Kirklees 550.9 (2423), 573.0 (2520)

Oldham 549.5 (1303), 754.1 (1788)

Blackburn with Darwen 548.4 (821), 742.8 (1112)

Oadby and Wigston 527.9 (301), 413.9 (236)

North East Lincolnshire 527.7 (842), 638.0 (1018)

Leicester 519.2 (1839), 441.0 (1562)

Bradford 516.5 (2788), 596.0 (3217)

Rochdale 513.0 (1141), 609.7 (1356)

Thanet 510.8 (725), 324.1 (460)

Sandwell 508.4 (1670), 442.1 (1452)

Scarborough 507.6 (552), 480.9 (523)

Calderdale 494.2 (1045), 449.7 (951)

Redcar and Cleveland 487.1 (668), 420.7 (577)

Bristol 480.4 (2226), 479.5 (2222)