Cheshire East residents have been urged to stick to lockdown rules or risk being plunged into further local restrictions over Christmas.

The authority's Labour leader Cllr Sam Corcoran, says the rise in infections across the region over the past few weeks needs to be tackled firmly to prevent the borough returning to a tiered system of controls after December 2.

Public health chiefs have issued the warning as Cheshire East reached 248 new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people over the last seven days.

The council leader said: "The majority of residents are doing the right thing by adhering to social distancing and travel restrictions, but there are a minority who are undoing all of this good work through complacency and selfishness.

"Covid-19 remains a real threat and we all must work together or rates will continue to increase which means we could face stricter restrictions.

"Now is not a time to be complacent."

The council's director of public health, Dr Matt Tyler, said: "If we make sensible decisions maybe we can avoid having further localised restrictions imposed on us over Christmas.

"If you have any symptoms of Covid-19 you must self-isolate immediately and get a test. Typical symptoms to look for include high fever, a continuous cough and a loss of taste or smell.

"You can book a test online by visiting the government testing website or by calling 119. If you have a positive test or are alerted by a contact tracer, play your part to protect your community by self-isolating for at least 10 days."

All residents are being reminded to:

- Stay at home; only leave home for essential travel, work and to shop for food or medicines.

- Work from where possible.

- Not to mix with others outside of household or support bubbles.

- Wash hands regularly and wear a face covering in places where social distancing is difficult.

Retail staff are also being told too wear a face covering unless they are are always behind a screen and outlets are advised to report poor customer compliance to Cheshire Police.

How does Congleton compare?

The latest Covid-19 figures show that the majority of Congleton's wards are below the national average for coronavirus cases per 100,000 people.

All Congleton wards apart from Hightown, Mossley & Timbersbrook are currently shaded light blue in the weekly map for Cheshire East.

Purple represents areas with the highest rolling rate of 400 cases or more per 100,000, dark blue 201 or more per 100,000 and lighter blue 101 or more.

There were 11 recorded cases in Congleton West Heath in the seven days to November 13, an increase of six and a rolling rate of 159.8.

In Congleton Town, there were 11 new cases, a drop of eight and a rolling rate of 153.6.

Eight positive cases were reported in Buglawton, no increase on the previous seven days and a rolling rate of 111.0.

While cases in Hightown, Mossley and Timbersbrook went up 15, no increase on the previous seven days and a rolling rate of 278.8.

The nearest purple areas to Congleton are Crewe Sydney & Gateway ward, which has a rolling rate of 720.9 per 100,000 people and Biddulph Central has 401.3.

The nearest purple patch to the north remains Mobberley, Plumley and High Legh with a rolling rate of 593.3.

In comparison to other towns in the borough, 11 cases were reported in Alsager West, that was a drop of 8, meaning it had a rolling rate of 193.7 per 100,000 people.

The latest figures show that Alsager East ward is currently above the national average. There was 21 registered cases in the ward, an increase of five, with a rolling rate of 321.3 per 100,000 people.

Twenty-two new cases were recorded in Haslington and Weston, which includes Oakhanger, an increase of nine cases and a rolling rate of 226.6 .

Thirty-nine cases of Covid-19 were recorded in Scholar Green, Rode Heath and Brereton, an increase of two and a rolling rate of 358.3.

In Sandbach North, there were eight cases, a drop of 11 and a rolling rate of 129.3.

Eleven new cases were recorded in Sandbach Ettiley Heath & Wheelock, a drop of five and a rolling rate of 120.2, while Sandbach Heath saw 15 new cases, no increase on the previous seven days and a rolling rate of 277.0

There were six new cases in Holmes Chapel, down two and a rolling rate of 96.7.

For Cranage and Goostery, which includes Swettenham and the edge of Congleton, 18 new cases were reported, a decrease of two with a rolling rate of 266.1.

There were nine new cases for Gawsworth and Macclesfield Forest, a drop of seven and a rolling rate of 93.8.

The rolling rates for the other Crewe wards were:

- Crewe North East 246.3

- Crewe Leighton 299.4

- Crewe North West 116.3

- Crewe Coppenhall & Underwood 113.3

- Crewe Town & Victoria Avenue 195.5

- Crewe Mill Street & College 259.4

- Crewe Gresty Road 168.5

- Crewe South West & Wistaston 218.0

- Wistaston Green 218.0

- Willaston & Shavington 185.9