COVID infections in Shropshire are at their lowest for six months.

But there has been a reversal with south Shropshire having the highest proportion of cases.

Thirty-eight per cent of the infections were in the south of the county, compared with 32 per cent in north Shropshire and 30 per cent in Shrewsbury and Atcham.

The latest figures show that the virus is on the retreat in the county but health chiefs say that there is still a need to follow precautions to stop it bouncing back.

During the seven day period up until April 1 there were 61 new reported cases.

This was down a third on the previous week with 31 fewer cases.

The infection rate in Shropshire is well below both the regional and national average.

In the county there were 18.9 cases of Covid-19 for every 100,000 members of the population. But in the West Midlands it was 45.8 per cent and for England as a whole 40.9.

Eight per cent of the cases involved residents of care homes.

Most people with the virus have been recovering at home with just five hospital beds occupied by people with the virus and there were no deaths from Covid-19 in county hospitals.

The majority of cases involved people in their middle years. Just two of the infections involved people aged over 70 and 30 of the people were under 30.

Everyone over the age of 50 or with a condition that makes them especially vulnerable has now been offered a first vaccination and an increasing number have been given a second jab.

This means that people who are less likely to become seriously ill or die make up the majority of those that have not received protection.

“We would still like to see our infection rates fall even further, and so we are still urging people to get tested regularly.,” said Rachel Robinson, Shropshire’s Director of Public Health.

People are encouraged to get regular tests.