MORE coronavirus cases have been identified in Herefordshire in the latest figures released by Public Health England.

The number of coronavirus cases in the county has risen to 745, as of 5.40pm on July 4, up from 743 on July 3.

Herefordshire's published case numbers leapt dramatically from 464 to 743 last week after Public Health England revealed the results of tests not previously included in cases for local authority areas.

Public Health England published for the first time the Pillar 2 Covid-19 testing data for Herefordshire this month.

Pillar 2 data includes swab testing by commercial providers; this includes the tests undertaken at the Merton Meadow mobile testing unit.

Herefordshire Council said the publication of Pillar 2 data does not reflect a sudden increase in cases as 86% of the reported Pillar 2 cases occurred before the end of May.