THE number of new Covid cases recorded in Worcestershire halved in the last week as the latest figures show 47 people remain in hospital with the virus.

New coronavirus cases recorded in Worcester fell by 55 per cent and 48 per cent in Worcestershire in a week according to the latest Public Health England figures.

As many as 1,539 new cases were recorded in the county and 277 cases were recorded in Worcester in the week up to July 28.

A total of 47 people were in hospital with Covid in Worcestershire on July 27 – the latest data available – with one of those patients on a ventilator.

Covid patients in hospital in Worcestershire increased by 80 per cent from 26 in the previous week.

The number of new cases recorded in Worcester has been falling in the last few weeks having reached a peak of 766 in the seven days up to July 18.

Worcestershire’s cases reached a recent peak of 3,252 cases in the same week.

Elsewhere in the county, the number of new cases in Bromsgrove fell by 50 per cent to 314 in the week up to July 28.

Cases fell by 43 per cent in the same week in Redditch to 244 with new cases also dropping by the same percentage in Wyre Forest to 274.

A huge drop in numbers in Malvern Hills saw the number of new cases fall by almost 65 per cent in a week to 110.

In Wychavon, which includes Evesham, Pershore and Droitwich, new coronavirus cases fell by more than a third to 320 in the week up to July 28.

According to Public Health England, a total of 372,521 people in the county have now been vaccinated having received two Covid jabs – around 73 per cent of those eligible.

A total of 437,102 people have so far received their first jab – just under 86 per cent of the county’s eligible population.

As of July 16, a total of 1,361 people in Worcestershire have died where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.