THE number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in St Helens has reached another milestone, with more than 600 people having tested positive.

The official data from Public Health England shows the rate of new cases in St Helens continues to fluctuate on a daily basis.

St Helens saw a big jump in cases over the weekend and on Tuesday, it was confirmed that 616 people had tested positive for COVID-19.

This meant St Helens once again – albeit briefly – had the highest infection rate per population in Merseyside.

However, the latest figures as of April 29 shows that the number of confirmed cases in St Helens had actually reduced to 614.

Public Health England said there may be slight shifts in the figures by local authority as time goes as there are some occasions where cases are allocated by the hospital where they were tested rather than by their home address.

In Knowsley, 516 people have tested positive for COVID-19, equating to 345 cases per 100,000 population.

This means Knowsley’s infection rate is now higher than St Helens, which has 341 cases per 100,000 population.

For several weeks St Helens had the highest infection rate in Merseyside and one of the highest outside of London, but was overtaken by Knowsley last week.

The infection rates in both areas continues to be among the highest in England.

The official figures, which are updated daily by Public Health England, only represent people testing positive at hospital.

Crucially, they do not include anyone with symptoms self-isolating at home, meaning the true number is likely to be much higher.