ONE new case of coronavirus has been confirmed for St Helens, according to the official figures released yesterday.

This means that since the outbreak began 725 cases have been recorded locally, a rise of 29 across the week.

The figures will raise hopes that the number of new infections is slowing in St Helens, given there were 36 cases in the previous seven day period.

Health leaders did warn last this week though that the Merseyside area is not coming down the other side of the epidemic curve as fast as other regions in England.

Across the weekend, three deaths related to coronavirus were recorded at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals Trust in the latest official figures.

NHS England statistics show that since the outbreak began, 177 people have died in hospital at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

On Sunday Andy Burnham called for the Government to publish the R value per region in England to help communities ease lockdown restrictions.

The Mayor of Greater Manchester, a former Labour MP for Leigh, wrote in the Observer on Sunday that the Prime Minister could fracture national unity unless he listens to regional concerns, adding the lifting of measures came too quickly for the north.

Mr Burnham revealed last week that the R rate for coronavirus in Greater Manchester has an average of 0.73 at the moment.

The R rate, standing for reproductive rate, is the number of people that a person infected with COVID-19 will pass the virus on to, on average.

So far the R rate has not been revealed for the Merseyside or the Liverpool City Region, which St Helens falls under.

Last week St Helens Council backed calls by the Merseyside Resilience Forum – a multi-agency organisation – for people to continue to heed the stay at home message as much as possible.

St Helens Council Leader, Councillor David Baines, said: “I am urging all St Helens residents to continue to follow the national guidance and stay at home wherever possible.

“Some people may interpret the relaxing of measures to mean things are going back to normal, but they are not.

"In the ‘new normal’, we must continue to stay at home as much as possible, to keep our distance from others when out and about and, if we show any symptoms of coronavirus, we must self-isolate.

“I’d like to thank all residents for your continued efforts to reduce the spread of the virus, which I know have come at great physical, emotional and financial cost for many. We must continue to stay strong with these measures to ensure that our most vulnerable are protected.”