ALMOST 20 more people have tested positive for coronavirus, latest figures show.

Public Health England figures show that 1,138 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 by 9am on Wednesday (October 14) in Herefordshire, up by 18 from 1,120 the same time on Tuesday.

It means since last Wednesday (October 7) there have been 78 new cases reported in the county. A week ago the total number of people to have tested positive for Covid-19 since March stood at 1,060.

The rate of infection in Herefordshire now stands at 590 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average of 988.7.

The graph below shows the number of cases in Herefordshire by date of test, and not the day when the cases were published by PHE. There can be a few days while waiting for tests results to be returned from laboratories.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 19,724 over the period, to 654,644.

Herefordshire's cases were among the 57,001 recorded across the West Midlands, a figure which rose by 1,804 over the period.

Cumulative case counts include patients who are currently unwell, have recovered and those that have died.

The Government also said a further 137 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Wednesday. This brings the UK total to 43,155.

No more deaths have been reported in Herefordshire's hospitals. NHS England figures show that as of 4pm on Tuesday, 58 people had died at the Wye Valley NHS Trust after a positive coronavirus test.

Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been 58,500 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

Separate figures show there were 4,146 Covid-19 patients in hospital in England as of Wednesday, up from 2,944 a week ago, while 468 Covid-19 hospital patients were in ventilation beds, up from 376 a week ago.

A total of 647 patients with confirmed Covid-19 were admitted to hospitals in England on Monday, compared with 472 a week earlier.