AN annoucement on what tier of restrictions St Helens will be placed under when national lockdown ends will be made today - but what is the current coronavirus situation locally?

Here is the latest breakdown from official figures.

How many new cases are we seeing?

The number of recorded coronavirus cases in St Helens increased by 39 over the last 24 hours, official figures to 9am on Wednesday show.

The rolling seven day infection rate has dropped to 184.4 per 100,000 after 333 cases in the week to November 21.

This is down from a rate of 290.2 (524 cases) a week earlier.

Back in October - when St Helens and the rest of the Liverpool City Region was placed under Tier 3 - the weekly rate had peaked at 470 per 100,000.

The situation in hospitals

One new coronavirus death was recorded at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals Trust in the latest 24-hour period, the latest official figures show.

NHS England figures show there have been 11 deaths in the past week, down from 15 the previous week.

At its peak, around 140 beds were occupied by coronavirus patients at Whiston Hospital, out of 700 general beds, although this has plateaued in recent weeks.

According to the latest NHS England data, 87 beds were occupied by Covid patients at the trust as of November 17, down from 97 a week earlier.

Of those, eight were in the hospital’s intensive care unit, compared to 10 the previous week and a peak of 13.

What factors will be used to decide which tier we fall under?

Health Secretary Matt Hancock will make an announcement in Parliament on Thursday after the Government set out its Covid-19 “winter plan” earlier this week.

Decisions on tiers are made by ministers based on public health recommendations informed by the following factors:

  • case detection rate (in all age groups and, in particular, among the over 60s)
  • how quickly case rates are rising or falling
  • positivity in the general population
  • pressure on the NHS – including current and projected (3 to 4 weeks out) NHS capacity – including admissions, general/acute/ICU bed occupancy, staff absences
  • local context and exceptional circumstances such as a local but contained outbreak