LANCASHIRE has seen over 3,600 more cases of coronavirus than official statistics have previously shown, new figures reveal.

Public Health England (PHE) has now published the results of Covid tests carried out in the community – either via drive-through and mobile testing units or home swab kits – known as ‘pillar 2’ data.

Since the start of the pandemic, only ‘pillar 1’ test results – conducted on those with a clinical need and on health and care staff – have been made public.

The updated data reveals that an additional 3,617 people across the whole of Lancashire have tested positive, pushing the county total of known coronavirus cases since the outbreak began to 8,582.

Preston saw the biggest surge, with its confirmed case number leaping by 654, while Blackburn with Darwen’s jumped by 550 to 974.

However, the new figures also contain details of recent changes in the weekly case rate – the number of people testing positive for every 100,000 residents.

Across the county council area, that statistic paints a positive picture, with the Lancashire County Council area rate having halved between the week ending June 24 and the week to June 30 – down from 15.0 to 7.4.

That puts Lancashire in the second-to-lowest bracket on the PHE ‘heat map’ of coronavirus case rates – whereas at the end of May it was among the worst affected areas in England.

In the Blackburn with Darwen Council area, the trend is in the right direction – down 36.7 percent from 32.9 to 20.8 cases per 100,000 people – but the area is only just outside the top ten case rate areas by upper-tier local authority in England.

TOTAL CONFIRMED COVID CASES IN LANCASHIRE AFTER ADDITION OF COMMUNITY TESTING RESULTS (as of July 2) The figure in brackets shows the increase over the previously-reported figure, which was derived solely from NHS and PHE lab tests.

LANCASHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL AREA – 6,596 (+2,739)

BURNLEY – 437 (+236)

CHORLEY – 667 (+302)

FYLDE – 436 (+153)

HYNDBURN – 316 (+157)

LANCASTER – 879 (+68)

PENDLE – 416 (+214)

PRESTON – 1,144 (+654)

RIBBLE VALLEY – 187 (+82)

ROSSENDALE – 281 (+103)

SOUTH RIBBLE – 504 (+223)

WEST LANCASIRE – 709 (+315)

WYRE 620 (+232)

BLACKBURN WITH DARWEN – 974 (+550)

BLACKPOOL 1,012 (328)