A major incident has been declared in Greater Manchester as Covid-19 infection rates there continue to rise.
The region has seen particularly big spikes in Manchester and Tameside, plus a sustained steep rise in Oldham.
Meetings of senior police, local authorities and other agencies have been taking place over the weekend.
Infection rates for the week to Thursday show cases per 100,000 people still rising in every part of the conurbation, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Those in Manchester and Tameside have more than doubled in seven days, while Oldham's remain the highest and the fastest-growing.
Provisional figures for the week to Friday, which will be revised by Public Health England in the coming 24 hours, suggest that trend then continued upwards.
The latest figures appear to show that pattern has continued, although sources note that the public health measures announced on Thursday night will take some time to take effect.
Provisional numbers for the week to Friday do suggest rates in Bury may have started to level off, while in Bolton they also appear relatively steady.
Rochdale's figures are continuing to fall in the wake of targeted measures introduced more than a fortnight ago.
Nevertheless a major incident has been declared due to the overall picture, ahead of a further review of the data tomorrow morning.
That move - in line with the region’s ‘outbreak’ strategy - is the same as would be declared in the event of a terror attack or major flood and means the region can access extra national resources if necessary.
If the police need extra help in enforcement, it is understood the army could be drafted in to support them.
Insiders say the continued increases are not related to Eid, which only began on Friday so cannot realistically have contributed to the rise.
One said mosques have been compliant with the new measures and that the rise is down to continued household transmission across all communities, as well as younger people not observing social distancing measures.
Hospital admissions are said to remain stable regionwide, however, with one official describing them as ‘really low across GM’.
“It’s younger people now, and not ill enough to be in hospital,” they said of those testing positive.
Gold command are meeting daily and are in close contact with the Cabinet Office and the Joint Biosecurity Centre on the issue.
There is a growing concern about the testing situation in care homes, however.
Government had promised to provide regular testing of all staff and residents across the sector throughout the summer, but this morning it emerged that pledge had been abandoned.
That is now not said to be possible until September.
