A boss at Royal Bolton Hospital has issued a desperate plea for people to avoid its accident and emergency unit unless strictly necessary after nearly 100 people turned up requesting coronavirus tests.
It comes after admissions of patients with Covid-19 increased over the weekend and the infection rate across the borough - the highest by far in England - continued to rise sharply.
Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, which is based at the hospital in Farnworth, said on Tuesday morning there were three coronavirus patients in critical care and a total of 20 on wards.
It added an increased number of patients under 65 are being admitted, with some in their 40s and 50s.
The trust's medical director, Dr Francis Andrews, said: "We are seeing more people being admitted with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 as a result of the very high rate of infections in Bolton. This is not a shift we want to see.
"The situation at the hospital is under control and we were well prepared for this.
"However, the rate continuing to rise is of concern and we continue to urge the people of Bolton to consider others when making decisions that could jeopardise their safety."
When the borough’s case numbers initially spiked suddenly and dramatically a few weeks ago, more than 90pc of cases were among the under-50s, two thirds of them in their twenties and thirties.
Bolton Council has confirmed it is now seeing an older age bracket testing positive in the community.
Dr Francis Andrews added: "We are extremely busy in our emergency department as a result of this increase.
"Only attend this department if you have experienced a life-threatening accident or illness and need urgent medical attention.
"We need to keep people safe and having limited numbers in this area is key to this.
"Nearly 100 people have attended the department in recent days requesting a Covid test.
"We are still open for business, we are still here to help the people of Bolton and we would not want this to stop patients attending their appointments or undergoing planned surgery - but we cannot afford for this situation to worsen."
The government has come under fire in recent days after people in Bolton reported struggling to book appointments at coronavirus testing stations.
Professor Donna Hall, who leads Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, said government's strategy is 'fundamentally flawed' and that local health structures which could have managed testing in the borough have been bypassed.
The weekly infection rate in Bolton has been above 200 on three separate days in the last week, according to revised figures released by Public Health England.
The peak so far was for the 7 days which ended last Thursday, September 10, when the rate reached 211.1 cases per 100,000 people.
It means that the infection rate in Bolton is now far higher than the previous highest UK rate, recorded in Leicester, where it reached 159.1 cases per 100,000 people on June 25.
The spike in cases has seen the borough placed under strict new lockdown measures which include banning pubs and restaurants from all but takeaway sales.
