A VILLAGE shop has been forced to close for nearly two weeks after two members of staff tested positive for coronavirus.

A notice on the door at Shobdon Village Shop, near Leominster, said for the safety of the local population it would be shut until November 19.

The notice on the door from the shop's owners Ian and Pauline Surtees said: "Two members of our staff have tested positive for Covid-19.

"For the safety of the entire village we have decided to close the store to allow a period of isolation.

"We will reopen on Thursday, November 19 for business as usual.

"We know that this will be inconvenient for some, but feel sure you will agree that the safety of everyone in the village comes first.

"We'll see you again on the 19th. Stay safe."

Mr Surtees, who has run the shop with his wife since 2013, said they were erring on the side of caution as Herefordshire Council's Covid-19 outbreak team said they could actually remain open.

"We could identify the people they [the people who tested positive] had been on shift with, they would have to isolate, but the rest of the staff would be okay to carry on," Mr Surtees added.

"We couldn't be 100 per cent sure people hadn't met so we made a decision that we would close for 10 days and all the staff have gone off to isolate just to be absolutely safe.

"It's probably over the top, but we're not putting the village at risk."

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He added: "The control team has basically said people are only going to be at risk if they've been in very close contact for a significant amount of time, so as far as we're aware customers are not at risk.

"We didn't want to take any chances so that's why we closed.

"We've got quite a lot of elderly people in the village so we just wanted to make sure they're all safe so we took the hit and close the shop for 10 days.

"We didn't have to, the council didn't tell us to, but we chose to do that just to be on the safe side."

It comes after the primary school in the village confirmed a pupil in key stage one had tested positive.

READ MORE: Coronavirus case confirmed at primary school

It is not known if the cases are linked, but reception class and years one and two at Shobdon Primary School are self-isolating for 14 days.

Headteacher Mary Freeman confirmed the case within the school community in a letter to parents and guardians on Sunday.

The school later confirmed it was a key stage one pupil.