Coronavirus cases decline in Shropshire

There were 642 new cases reported in the seven days from January 29 to February 4, a decrease of 35, or five per cent, compared to the previous week.

The seven-day infection rate, being used to monitor case rates nationally, for Shropshire was 198.7 coronavirus cases per 100,000 of the population.

This was below the rate for the West Midlands of 268.8 and for England at 210.8.

There were 29 coronavirus-related deaths in Shropshire hospitals and 144 beds at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford's Princess Royal Hospital were occupied by Covid-19 patients.

During the last week, 35 per cent of cases were in the Shrewsbury & Atcham area, 39 per cent were in North Shropshire and 26 per cent were in South Shropshire.

Rachel Robinson, Shropshire's director of public health, said: "Our numbers continue to fall, and we have one of lowest rates in the West Midlands. This is of course welcome news but we’re not out of the woods just yet. We also have one of the highest testing rates in the region, which means we can identify positive cases quickly and ask any affected individuals to self-isolate.

“Over the past weeks, we have seen an increase in the number of positive cases linked to both work places and care homes. Our public health teams continue to monitor the situation closely and work with these settings to stem the spread of infection and support both residents and staff.

“To drive Shropshire’s rates down even further we need to continue sticking to the hands, face, space rule and stay at home for all but essential reasons.

“If you have symptoms, please self-isolate and organise to get tested.

“We have testing available in Ludlow, Oswestry, Shifnal and Shrewsbury for people with symptoms, We are also asking people to consider getting tested as a precaution if they have any less common symptoms, such as a headache, sore throat and shortness of breath. Please make use of these centres and take up the offer of testing.

“Rapid testing is also available for key workers and those people who have a job that means they cannot work from home at our centres in Shrewsbury and Craven Arms."

Rapid tests can be booked by going to shropshire.gov.uk/lfdpublictesting