People meeting family and friends at Christmas time was one of the driving factors behind the rapid rise in Wigan's Covid infection rate.
The town now has the highest rate of new coronavirus cases in Greater Manchester, with some areas registering figures among the top 20 in the country.
And, the borough's public health boss says the latest data shows that the virus was likely being spread by groups of people meeting over Christmas, including those enjoying the Boxing Day fancy dress night out seen as a yearly tradition for Wiganers.
READ MORE: Amir Khan investigated by police for 'filming himself while driving Range Rover around Bolton'
Most of those testing positive are aged between 16 and 44, and - while Standish has recorded the highest infection rates in the town - there are no areas that stand out as significant virus hotspots.
But, in the latest figures Wigan tops Greater Manchester's infection rate table, with 2,303 new cases per 100,000 people, a number which has risen by 90 percent since last week.
However, the town's Director of Public Health, Prof Kate Ardern, says Wigan is not unique in seeing a rise in cases, with every other borough in the region also recording extremely high figures as the impact of the more transmissible Omicron variant of Covid-19 becomes clear.
"If you look at the whole North of England you'll see that we weren't top of the list last week, we are this week - it does fluctuate as infection rates rise in general," she explained.
"It's our turn to be at the top of the tree at the present time."
As well as directly effecting those contracting the virus, the rise in Covid cases in Wigan has had the added impact of reducing the workforce for key health services, Prof Ardern says.
The number of people off sick because of the disease is putting added pressure on an already strained system.
And, the latest figures, combined with the average age of those testing positive, suggest that the virus was spread heavily through social contact around Christmas.
"It's between seven and 14 days incubation period so clearly we were going up before Christmas but I think we're seeing now the impact of mixing over Christmas," Prof Ardern explained.
"I think we were just seeing more mixing in the borough over that period, people in other boroughs perhaps were mixing a bit more before Christmas and we appear to have been mixing over Christmas."
Prof Ardern also believes the popularity of the Boxing Day fancy dress night - with hundreds of revellers heading to venues in the town centre - probably increased the spread of Covid in Wigan.
"Well let me put it this way, it probably hasn't helped," she said.
"When we were already on the rise and seeing exponential growth, if you do have more social mixing and if you look at the age group where we're seeing the highest rates of transmission - in that 16-29, 30-44 group - they are the folks who are likely to have been out doing social mixing."
Prof Ardern says she expects to see infection rate numbers continue to rise in her borough and across the North West.
"I don't see any slowing down at the moment and I expect that for all of Greater Manchester and the North West," she said.
Wigan council is continuing to urge anyone who has not yet been vaccinated to get their jab when they can.
Residents are advised to regularly wash their hands, maintain social distancing and work from home where possible, wear masks and keep rooms well ventilated to reduce the spread of the virus.
