The borough of Blackburn with Darwen in Lancashire has a rate of 79.2 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 in the seven days to July 17, according to the latest data from Public Health England (PHE).
Leicester has a rate of 77.7 per 100,000 people over the same period.
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The PHE figures show in Blackburn there were 118 cases in the seven days to July 17, with a rate of 79.2 cases per 100,000 people, compared to 63 cases in the previous seven days up to July 10, with a previous infection rate of 42.3 cases per 100,000 people
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The Lancashire town brought in extra restrictions last Tuesday and said the borough of 148,000 people was facing a "rising tide" of cases.
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Professor Dominic Harrison, Blackburn with Darwen Council's director of public health, warned last week the area had two weeks to get the numbers down before lockdown measures are reversed.
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He said data showed household "clusters" of infections, suggesting one person was infecting others in the same household and this was mainly affecting the south Asian population.
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Blackburn with Darwen borough has an Asian population of about 28%.
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Local Asian councillors told the PA news agency their community should not be stigmatised and said large families, sometimes looking after elderly relatives, living in small terraced houses was the reason for the elevated infection rates.