The Covid-19 pandemic isn't growing overall despite a number of towns experiencing significant outbreaks.
Last month, a resurgence in Covid-19 cases saw swathes of the North West and Yorkshire put back into semi-lockdown over fears the pandemic could begin to grow out of control.
Blackburn and Darwen now has the highest rate of confirmed cases per 100,000 people according to testing carried out in the week up to August 3, followed by Oldham.
In the midlands, Leicester - which was the first place to be subject to a local lockdown - also continues to be an area of concern, although cases are declining.
But, according to new reproduction (R) rate estimates published by the Government, the pandemic is thought to be between 0.8 and 1.
That means despite local outbreaks the pandemic is probably continuing to shrink overall in England.
Government figures estimate the growth rate is shrinking by 5% every day in the best case scenario and flat-lining in the worst.
But there are fears the crucial number could be creeping over 1 - the point at which the wave of infections is growing - in the North West, London and South West.
There is a four day gap between the testing data and the publication of the R and growth rate, meaning we could yet expect to see growing cases next week.
In the North East. the growth rate is believed to be between 0% and -0.4% and the R rate between 0.8 and 1.
Below are the 10 English areas with the highest number of confirmed cases per 100,000 of population:
Blackburn with Darwen - 77.8
Oldham - 56.45
Leicester - 55.46
Bradford - 48.77
Swindon - 47.3
Calderdale - 36.65
Manchester - 32.14
Rochdale - 29.55
Trafford - 29.19
Tameside - 26.2
Restrictions banning households from mixing indoors or in gardens are to be brought in for Preston from midnight on August 8, the Department of Health has confirmed.
The new restrictions for Preston follow it being designated an “area of intervention” by the Government following a spike in cases.
The Lancashire Resilience Forum said: “Since the rise of cases was first announced last week, residents, communities and businesses have been asked to take extra precautions to reduce the spread of the virus.
These extra precautions are now mandatory and residents are still actively encouraged to get tested at the regional testing site based at Preston’s College if they are experiencing any symptoms of coronavirus.”
Outside of England, Aberdeen has also been placed into lockdown measures after a large outbreak which has been linked to the city's nightlife.
Several members of the city's Premier League football club Aberdeen FC are in self-isolation after it emerged they visited a bar linked to the spike on a team night out.
The Government said 46,511 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Thursday, up by 98 from the day before.
Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been 56,600 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
