John Burnett, Herefordshire Council press officer, said the helpline had eased the strain on county GPs, but said the number of cases was still low.

His comment was echoed by NHS West Midlands, amid reports the virus has reached a summer peak.

The number of regional cases per 100,000 people fell from 213.9 to 200.1 during the last week of July, with 116 people admitted to hospital with the virus in the same period. There were no deaths and 19,000 people have collected anti-virals from a regional collection point. No Herefordshire figures are available.