HOSPITALS in Herefordshire are treating fewer coronavirus patients this week after an 11-month high earlier in the month, figures show.

With visiting restrictions still in place at Wye Valley NHS Trust hospitals, including Hereford County Hospital, the number of patients has dropped by 10 over the last week.

On December 24, the number of patients with Covid at the trust had fallen to a four-month low of seven, but three weeks later on Tuesday (January 11) that number had hit 46 – the highest since February 2020.

Then the latest figures, released on Thursday (January 20), showed that the number had fallen to 36 on Tuesday.

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As the number of patients in hospitals appears to be falling, so is the infection rate in the county.

Cases in Herefordshire have been falling dramatically, with almost 40 per cent fewer people testing positive in the week to January 12 compared to the near 3,000 the week before.

The latest hospital figures from NHS England also showed that 19 new Covid patients were admitted to hospital in Herefordshire in the week to Sunday, January 16.

The week before, that number was 28, and a fortnight before it was 30.

The figures, published on the Government website, showed there were no patients in a mechanical ventilation bed on Tuesday, which are used for the most seriously ill.

That was the same as the week before.

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The number of patients in Herefordshire's hospitals remains far below levels seen last winter.

During last winter's peak, the number of patients in hospital with Covid hit 117 on January 19.

Between the winter peak and the end of 2020, the most patients at the trust with Covid was on November 1 when there were 35.