Hospital beds across the north west are rapidly filling up with coronavirus patients.
Figures released by the NHS show a concerning increase in the number of hospital admissions in the region.
As part of the daily government briefings, the Cabinet Office releases slides showing the changes in new case numbers, hospital admissions and the number of deaths compared to other counties.
The latest charts show that the north west is the third worst affected region behind London and the Midlands, with hospital admissions continuing to rise.
At Tuesday's briefing, NHS England’s medical director Professor Stephen Powis said there was “increasing evidence” that the number of hospital admissions for Covid-19 are stabilising.
But figures suggest that might not the case for the north west.
The latest graph shows hospital admissions in the region increasing at a higher rate than elsewhere in the UK, and overtaking the north east which appeared to be on a similar trajectory at the start of the month.
The number of hospital admissions in the north west on April 13 stood at 2,890, an increase from 2,837 the previous day.
The number of hospital admissions in the north west at this point last week stood at 2,436.
While hospital admissions in the north west increased in the last 24 hours, the number of people in hospital with confirmed Covid-19 across the UK fell by 2 per cent, according to the data.
Public Health England has recorded 11,136 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the north west, out of a total of 73,183 across England.
Prof Powis told today's conference that while testing suggests the number of new cases is also plateauing across the UK, the number of deaths will continue to rise.
He said it would be longer before the number of deaths begins to level out due to the time lag between the first onset of symptoms and patients dying from the virus.
Meanwhile, data from the Office of National Statistics released today shows that coronavirus is a factor in one in five deaths in the north west - leading to almost 60 per cent more deaths than usual in a single week.
For deaths registered in the region in the week ending April 3, 418 mentioned coronavirus on the death certificate, up from 60 the week before.
That represented 19.6 per cent of all deaths registered in the week.
Overall, in the week ending April 3, there were 2,137 deaths registered - this was 599 more deaths than the previous week.
Greater Manchester's death toll has today risen by 42, bringing the overall total to 592.
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