THE number of coronavirus patients in Herefordshire's hospitals has fallen below 100, but January has been the most deadly month of the pandemic so far.

A record number of patients were in hospital with coronavirus last week, with 117 being cared for on January 19.

But a week later at 8am on January 26, the most-recent date covered in the weekly data published on a Thursday, that number had fallen to 81.

During the first wave of coronavirus, the highest number of patients with Covid-19 at the trust was 50 on April 5.

It means the number of Covid-19 patients at the Wye Valley NHS Trust was 62 per cent higher on Tuesday than at the peak of the first wave.

The number of people on mechanical ventilators, used for the most seriously ill coronavirus patients, had risen over the seven-day period.

On Tuesday, eight patients were on mechanical ventilators, up from six on January 19.

In the seven-days to January 24, 49 Covid-19 patients were admitted and diagnosed with coronavirus at the Wye Valley NHS Trust.

This compares to 65 the previous week.

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Separate figures from NHS England, which cover up to 4pm on Wednesday (January 27) shows 153 people have now died at the Wye Valley Trust after a positive Covid-19 test result.

The data shows 50 deaths have happened at the trust so far in January.

It means more patients have died in January than in any other month of the pandemic so far.

Fifty deaths in January compares to other highs of 30 in April, 27 in December and 14 in May.

Daily death counts are revised each day, with each case backdated to the actual date of death.

This means some of the deaths that were first recorded in the latest period may actually have taken place days earlier.

NHS England guidance states: "Confirmation of Covid-19 diagnosis, death notification and reporting in central figures can take up to several days and the hospitals providing the data are under significant operational pressure."