COVID-19 cases have continued to fall in Wirral - more positive news on the eve of the next step of the roadmap out of lockdown.

In the week up to April 6, there were 41 cases in Wirral at a rate of 13 per 100,000, down from a rate of 21 per 100,000 registered last week.

That is the lowest rate Wirral has recorded since August 23 last year.

It is another reminder of the huge progress made due to vaccines and lockdown rules since January 8, when Wirral's infection rate was over 980 per 100,000.

Due to the progress, non-essential retail and the hospitality sector, albeit just for outdoor service, will reopen tomorrow.

The fall in cases has massively improved the situation in Wirral's hospitals.

On April 6, the latest day for which we have figures, there were two people hospitalised with the virus in Wirral, down from eight the week before.

On April 2, for one day only, Wirral actually registered just one COVID patient.

In late January of this year, over 270 people were being treated for the virus in Wirral's hospitals.

This week's hospitalisation figures are the lowest seen since March 22 last year, before the first national lockdown was announced.

A breakdown of cases in Wirral shows just how much the virus has declined in recent months.

The most recent round-up of figures in each of Wirral's 22 council wards, which covered the week up to April 2, showed Rock Ferry was the most infected ward in the borough with seven cases, a jump from fewer than five cases the week before.

Areas with the next highest number of COVID cases in Wirral included Prenton (six), Bromborough (six), Birkenhead and Tranmere (five) and Bebington (five).

Everywhere else in the borough had fewer than five cases in the seven days up to April 2.

Comparing the figures to last week, six Wirral wards saw cases rise, four saw no change, but 12 wards registered fewer cases.

The positivity rate measures the percentage of tests which return a positive result and it is seen as a good measure of how widely spread the virus is.

In Wirral, this week's figures showed a positivity rate of 0.7% - that is the lowest recorded in the borough since August 14 last year when the rate was 0.6%.

It is dramatic progress from early January when a rate of over 20% was recorded and the virus was spiralling out of control.