CORONAVIRUS cases are falling in most areas of Herefordshire, but three have seen a rise over the most recent week.

In the seven days to Wednesday, November 24, a UK Government heatmap showed the areas in Herefordshire with the highest number of new Covid cases.

Current coronavirus hotspots in the county, those with the highest infection rates, include Leominster North; Colwall, Cradley and Wellington Heath; Credenhill, Weobley, Wellington; and Leominster South.

The infection rate – the number of cases per 100,000 people – for Leominster North was 743.1 for the week to November 24, which is the latest data available. That was down from 1,139.4 two weeks before.

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The map breaks Herefordshire down into 23 sections known as middle super output areas.

These are used to try and improve the reporting of small area statistics, with an average population over around 7,200 people in England and Wales.

In total, Herefordshire reported 702 cases in the seven days to November 24, giving it a infection rate of 362.6 cases per 100,000 people.

That was 220 fewer cases than the week before, when the infection rate was 476.2.

Despite the drop across the county as a whole, cases rose in Belmont, Madley and Clehonger; Ross-on-Wye; Colwall, Cradley and Wellington Heath; Hereford East.

Seven–day rates are expressed per 100,000 population and are calculated by dividing the seven day count by the area population and multiplying by 100,000. This helps when comparing rates across the county.

It came after Boris Johnson promised everyone eligible for a coronavirus booster jab will be offered one by the end of January.

He promised “another great British vaccination effort” to tackle the Omicron variant.

The Prime Minister said at least 400 military personnel will help the NHS and volunteers deliver jabs, with centres “popping up like Christmas trees”.

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Mr Johnson told a Downing Street press conference on Tuesday: “We’ve already done almost 18 million boosters across the UK but we’ve got millions more to do to protect the most vulnerable.

“Then we’ll move down the cohorts rapidly, and working together with the devolved administrations we want to ramp up capacity across the whole United Kingdom to the levels we achieved in the previous vaccination effort.

“We’re going to be throwing everything at it in order to ensure that everyone eligible is offered that booster, as I say, in just over two months.”

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the booster programme would be put “on steroids” to meet the target.

The need for action was underlined as the number of confirmed cases of the Omicron variant in the UK reached 22, with that figure expected to increase further.