More than 3,000 positive coronavirus tests were recorded in a week in Greater Manchester for the first time, the latest figures show.
The latest data shows there were 3,101 positive test results in seven days leading up to September 17.
Just two weeks ago, the weekly total in the region topped 2,000 for the first time.
The Covid-19 infection rate is now increasing 21.6% week-on-week.
There were 472 cases confirmed in the region on Saturday, which is less than the total in the two days before.
But that is likely to have been caused by the backlog of tests that have taken longer to produce a result.
A more accurate guide to the bigger picture is the infection rate.
All ten boroughs in Greater Manchester remain on 'red alert' - the highest level of alert.
Bolton still has the highest infection rate - it was recorded at 187.8 cases per 100,000 people in the week ending September 17.
In Oldham, the rate stands at 130.3 - this has increased slightly from 127.8 in the previous seven-day period.
It has also increased in Bury rising from 119.9 to 125.1.
The infection rate in Manchester now stands at 121.6. This has gone up from 106.4.
Salford and Rochdale both have an infection rate of 112 per 100,000.
Tameside recorded a rate of 110.4 - it was recorded at 102.9 in the previous seven-day period.
The figure in Wigan is also continuing to increase, going from 66.6 to 78.2.
Stockport and Trafford both have infection rates in the 50s.
Broadly, the figures indicate Greater Manchester is experiencing the start of what appears to be a second wave of coronavirus.
Although, coronavirus-related hospital deaths are rising again they are nowhere near the death toll at the height of the first wave.
In the last 24 hours, three more coronavirus-related deaths were recorded in Greater Manchester's hospitals.
The region's hospital death toll now stands at 2,245, the latest NHS figures show.
Ministers now are considering tough new coronavirus restrictions as the Prime Minister said the long-feared second wave of the pandemic has arrived in the UK.
However Professor Neil Ferguson - whose modelling led the government to order the lockdown in March - has said on Saturday that the government needs to act 'sooner rather than later' if they are to prevent a new surge in coronavirus cases leading to more deaths.
