MORE than nine in 10 Cheshire West and Chester residents aged 50 and above have now received their first Covid vaccine.

Figures revealed by Cheshire West and Chester Council's director of public health Ian Ashworth showed a total of 92 per cent of those aged 50 and over had now been given at least one dose of a Covid vaccine.

This is higher than the England average of 89 per cent.

The figures were revealed at CWaC's latest Covid Outbreak Board meeting on Wednesday, April 21.

It has since been revealed that for the NHS Cheshire CCG area, 54.1 per cent of those aged 45-49 have received their first dose of the jab. Those aged 45-49 without underlying health issues were eligible to book their vaccine appointments only 10 days ago.

Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group accountable officer Clare Watson said "fantastic progress" had been made with the vaccine roll-out since the first jab was administered at the Countess of Chester Hospital in December 2020.

She added Primary Care Networks would, from next week, be receiving weekly deliveries of vaccines, as the mission was now to vaccinate 75 per cent of Cheshire west residents aged 18-49, or about 74,000 people.

She said: "There is still work to do, but we are all on target and confident we'll meet that target by the end of July."

Ms Watson also revealed the mass Covid vaccine site at Chester Racecourse would be relocated to Ellesmere Port in August.

It comes as the borough's seven-day infection rate has fallen to just above 10, with 37 new cases confirmed in residents for the week of April 11-17.

There have also been no Covid cases for anyone aged 60 or above from April 13-17.

Cheshire West and Chester Council leader Louise Gittins said the figures were "so positive", adding: "It's great to see the infection rate reducing among older people.

"It's down to all the hard work of everybody in the borough; residents, businesses and community/voluntary sector and our public sector partners, so a big well done to everyone.

"So let's keep it that way, carry on being cautious whilst slowly enjoying and trying to get back to the things we used to like to do."