THE number of new Covid cases across Cheshire West and Cheshire East has dropped significantly over the last seven days.

According to Public Health England, as of April 12, more than 3,400 new cases were recorded in the two boroughs, compared with more than 5,500 in the week leading up to April 5.

This is made up of 1,523 cases in Cheshire West and 1,947 in Cheshire East.

The number of recorded cases has decreased as free Covid testing came to an end on March 31.

Since the pandemic began there have now been a total of 117,782 Covid cases in Cheshire West and 126,612 in Cheshire East.

The latest figures show the respective seven-day case rates for the two boroughs stand at 525.3 for Cheshire West, down from 891.4 last week, and 576.2 for Cheshire East, down from 927.4.

Nationally in the last seven days up to April 12, 268,783 people have tested positive for Covid.