Coronavirus has taken a heavy toll on Bolton, once among the biggest textile producers in the world, but now, in some parts, facing chronic deprivation. There have been 780 Covid-related deaths in Bolton and in the week to May 16 there were 982 positive tests, 438 more than the previous week. About 43 per cent of the population are from an ethnic minority, predominantly British Indian or British Pakistani. However, experts believe that it is poverty, dense housing and multi-generational homes in the areas, rather than ethnicity, that lies behind the surge of the Indian variant. In Rumworth South, for example, it was reportedly only 79.4 per cent.

Source: Daily Mail May 22, 2021 21:02 UTC