Wirral's COVID case numbers have dipped below 300 for the first time since December 14.

In the week up to February 25, the borough recorded 294 cases at a rate of 91 per 100,000.

That is a fall from 379 cases at a rate of 117 per 100,000 registered the week before.

The latest figures are welcome news given some worrying figures for Wirral in recent times.

Numbers for the week up to February 18 showed cases had risen compared to the week up to February 17, from 371 to 379.

Similarly, there were 352 infections in the week up to February 22, up from 335 in the week up to February 21.

Thankfully, the picture has improved in recent days.

An analysis of the weekly figures from then on shows cases dropped to 322 in the week up to February 23, 318 for the following day and 294 for the week up to February 25.

This means Wirral's infection rate is now below 100 per 100,000, which is great progress given the rate of 988 per 100,000 was recorded on January 8.

However, the current rate of 91 per 100,000 is noticeably higher than 52 per 100,000, the rate registered on December 3 just after the end of the second national lockdown.

It should be noted that last July Wirral regularly recorded infection rates of three or four per 100,000, a very low number.

The small spikes in the daily figures seen in Wirral recently mean it is no longer the least infected part of the Liverpool City Region.

Halton's rate is now slightly lower at 90 per 100,000, while Knowsley's rate remains higher at 139.

In Liverpool, the infection rate is 117, that is above Sefton's rate of 98.