MORE patients have died at Herefordshire's hospitals after testing positive for coronavirus, latest NHS figures show.

NHS data showed 11 people died in December at the Wye Valley NHS Trust, which runs Hereford County Hospital, after testing positive for Covid-19.

That was up from 10 in November and nine in October.

As of 4pm on December 20, 268 patients had died at Wye Valley Trust hospitals after testing positive for Covid-19, with that number rising to 272 by the end of the month.

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But the toll is not rising as sharply as it did last winter.

In December 2020, 28 deaths were reported, followed by 82 in January, 34 in February and five in March.

But as the trust copes with a rise in coronavirus cases on its wards and in the community this winter, visiting has been suspended in most, but not all, circumstances.

At the November 4 Wye Valley NHS Trust board meeting, managing director Glen Burley said that the trust was "under significant pressure from Covid".

He said the majority of inpatients with Covid at the time had either had no vaccine or just their first dose.

The latest figures from the Government showed there were 15 patients with Covid at the WYe Valley NHS Trust on Tuesday (December 28), the same number as the week before.

But that number is one of the lowest at the trust since the summer.

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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.

In the seven days to January 5, 2,709 people tested positive for Covid-19 in Herefordshire. That was 1,209 more than the week before.