HEREFORDSHIRE'S public health chief has urged parents to support schools which will be forced to make more tough decisions due to coronavirus.

The county's public health director Dr Rebecca Howell-Jones said some schools in the UK had been forced to close recently due to Covid outbreaks, mainly due to a rise in cases of the Delta variant, first identified in India.

In a letter to parents, she thanked them and their children for continuing to play their part in preventing the spread of coronavirus, and therefore keeping school open until the summer holidays in around six weeks.

"With Government regulations easing, it may feel that schools should start to relax some of the measures but we have requested that schools continue to follow the Covid-19 safety measures for the next six weeks to keep students and staff safe and help them to remain open," she said.

She said the levels of Covid-19 were low in Herefordshire, and latest official data shows 65 cases have been found over the last seven days, two more than the week before.

Dr Howell-Jones said parents needed to support schools which would be forced to make tough decision surrounding school trips and sports days.

"As society re-opens some areas in the UK are beginning to see Covid-19 cases rise again and some schools have had to close to stop the spread of the virus," she said.

"Herefordshire schools are working extremely hard to keep their pupils in school for the final six weeks of the summer term.

"In order to do this, it may mean that decisions have to be made relating to school trips and sports days.

"It may be that some of these traditional events sadly cannot go ahead or they may look very different this year and we ask that you support your school with these tough decisions."

She also asked people to continue following the rules surrounding testing and self-isolation, and encouraged everyone to book a vaccine appointment when they are called on.