A HOTEL in Tenbury is on standby in case it is needed to take an overflow of patients ill with the coronavirus.

Cadmore Lodge would be used for patients who are not well enough to go home but do not need specialist care in hospital.

The hotel was also placed on standby last year in the first wave of the pandemic.

However, it is hoped that it will not be needed as cases of Covid-19 in the area have been starting to fall.

“Worcestershire has recently experienced a high incidence of coronavirus outbreaks with levels above the average for England, but lower than for the West Midlands,” Ken Pollock, who represents Tenbury on Worcestershire County Council told a meeting of Tenbury Town Council.

“The trend is in the right direction and we have to hope it will continue, no matter what new variants might appear from around the world.

“Cadmore Lodge is still on standby to take those who may have been in hospital, but are not definitively clear of the disease, and hence able to go to care homes.”

He is also optimistic for the return of schools and a return to normal service at Tenbury and other libraries.

“I am sure we all hope that our schools will reopen after March 8 and that education can return to something approaching normality,” he said.

“By the same token, we must hope that our library can resume normal service and not only rely on the digital provision that has kept it effectively operating during the lockdown. “

The latest figures up to February 9 show 100 cases in the Malvern Hills area that includes Tenbury, a fall of 37 and down almost a third on the previous week. This is a rolling average of 111 per 100,000 people and significantly below the national average.

In the county as a whole there were 1,000 cases for the same period also down a third, but with a rolling average of 167 the number of cases was significantly above the national average for the UK.