FALLS in Cheshire West’s infection rate are ‘fantastic’ but ‘more progress’ needs to be made.

That’s according to two senior council officials, speaking at a meeting of the authority’s Covid-19 outbreak board yesterday (March 10).

CWAC’s current rolling seven-day infection rate is 60.6 cases per 100,000 residents — down by 90 per cent since its early-January peak.

Ian Ashworth, CWAC’s Director of Public Health, said: “We have seen a 30 per cent reduction in the previous week with infection rates which is fantastic — it’s great to see that.

“The rate has not been as low as this since September 24. It is really good and we want it to come down even more so.

“One of the challenges why it has not gone so low [is that] we are seeing the 30-39 [age group] with high infection rates. That is because they are going to work and we have a population that cannot work from home, and having done some deep dives we have seen that workplace outbreaks have been a factor and that brings it to households as well.

“They also have not had the vaccine, generally.”

Mr Ashworth went on to highlight that 49 complaints against businesses in the borough had been made in February, a drop of 55 per cent compared to the first month of 2021.

Of these, 20 complaints were over businesses trading against the rules, and 12 failed to have the required PPE or social distancing measures in place.

Despite the positive news, Chief Executive Andrew Lewis added: “We still do need to make more progress and I hope to see that rate come down even further.”

He also revealed that the council was looking to make many of its coronavirus support services for businesses, schools, and shielding individuals, ‘more permanent’.

Mr Lewis said: “Increasingly, we are now looking to embed those arrangements as part of the council support. We know that Covid-19 is not going away — it will change and be substantially suppressed with the vaccine — but we need to be vigilant for many months if unfortunately not years ahead.”