FOR the first time in many weeks there has been a fall in the number of Covid-19 infections in Ludlow.

During the last week for which figures are available there were 984 new cases reported which was a decrease of five per cent on the previous weeks.

But the level of infection in the county is well below that in the West Midlands and in England.

In the West Midlands there were 450.3 cases per 100,000 of population and the figure in England was 445.8.

But in Shropshire it was 304 per 100,000.

There was an increase in the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 with 16 hospital beds occupied in the county.

However, the good news was that there had been no deaths of people with the virus.

Rachel Robinson, Shropshire Director of Public Health, is concerned at the increase in the number of people in hospital.

“Following the national trend, there has been a small drop in the number of positive cases in Shropshire,” she said.

“This was expected as we go into summer and schools break up.

“However, we will continue to monitor the situation closely as we do not believe we have yet seen the impact of restrictions lifting.

“While it is positive that there have been no hospital deaths in this period, it is concerning to see the number of hospital admissions rising each week. We are also aware of one death in a community setting.

“Two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine offers the most protection against the virus so please get double jabbed if you haven’t already.

“After a really difficult 16 months, we want people to enjoy this summer as safely as possible.”