Shropshire Star

A few of the headlines from the Shropshire Star:

• Shropshire A&Es see ‘significant’ numbers of patients as staff under pressure, external
• Significant number of positive Covid-19 cases in Shrewsbury Town squad, external
• Snowfall in parts of Shropshire as cold nights continue, external

A yellow warning for ice will be in place from tomorrow for large parts of Staffordshire and Shropshire.

The Met Office warning, external will start on Thursday at 17:00 and last until 11:00 on Friday morning.

Image source, Met Office

Temperatures could fall as low as -4C (24.8) causing icy stretches and slippery surfaces, the Met Office said.

Several Shrewsbury Town FC players and staff members have tested positive for coronavirus, the club has said, external.

All those who have tested positive are now self-isolating.

The club said it had informed all relevant authorities and would not be making further comment.

The team's next match is scheduled for Saturday in the third round of the FA Cup away to Southampton.

Their previous match at home to Crewe was postponed due to positive Covid cases within the squad.

Wolves recall midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White from his season-long loan spell at Swansea City.

BBC Radio Shropshire

Hundreds of patients in part of Shropshire are getting their second doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week despite a national decision to delay the follow-up jab.

The UK will give both parts of the Oxford and Pfizer vaccines 12 weeks apart, having initially planned to leave 21 days between the Pfizer jabs.

But GPs giving the vaccine in Bridgnorth said they would press ahead with plans for the second dose this week and then move to the new plan from Sunday.

Dr Jess Harvey, who is part of the team, said the timing of the decision over new year had left them no time to change hundreds of appointments.

"We did not have the logistics to cancel 1,000 people and rebook 1,000 people," she said.

"The vaccine would have gone to waste because we were getting the vaccine regardless and it only lasts three days."

Supermarkets and other firms are being urged to increase their Covid-19 safety measures as part of efforts to tackle a surge in infections.

Image source, Getty Images

Shopping for essentials such as food is one of the few reasons people are allowed to leave home under the current lockdown.

With cases rising across the West Midlands, the leaders of seven councils have together urged retailers to take urgent action. , external

They include wanting a one-way systems to be brought back around shops, Covid marshals on site to enforce measures and messaging inside stores to maintain social distancing.

A man is in a critical condition in hospital after an assault in Stone.

Staffordshire Police was called, external to an address on Redwood Avenue at about 19:30 on Tuesday to reports of a teenage male trying to open van doors.

Officers found the victim who had a serious head injury.

Image source, Google

He was taken to hospital where he remains in a critical condition, the force said.

A 43-year-old man, from Stafford, was later arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and remains in police custody while inquiries continue.

There has been a dramatic rise in the number of people with Covid-19 needing treatment in hospital in Wolverhampton, according to health bosses., external

Two hundred patients are currently being treated in New Cross and the NHS trust's chief executive, Professor David Loughton, said he expected the figure to increase in the coming weeks.

"I don't think we've seen the full impact of the contacts made over the Christmas period," he said.

"Our capacity will soon be compromised; we can look at what is happening in the south east of England and it is reasonable to think that we are moving in the same direction in terms of numbers, and so I expect we will hit our peak in the next 14 to 21 days."

The infection rate has also increased in the city with the latest figures showing 889.7 cases per 100,000 people in the week to 3 January compared with 377 per 100,000 on Christmas Eve.

Stoke-on-Trent Live

From the Stoke-on-Trent Live website today:

• Devastated daughter demands answers after mum gets Covid and dies, external
• Air ambulance called to crash after car overturns, external
• Albanian drug gang forced man to work in Hanley cannabis factory to pay off £27k debt, external

Lights on a public Christmas tree in part of Birmingham are going to stay switched on until the end of January to brighten up lockdown.

The Bournville Village Trust said, external they would normally turn them off in the first week of the year but wanted to try and bring "hope and happiness" during the tighter Covid restrictions.

Image source, Bournville Village Trust

Several colleges in the West Midlands have cancelled their BTEc exams this month over concerns for students' health and safety.

Image source, Google

While confirming the cancellation of GCSEs and A-Levels this week, the Department for Education had said vocational exams could go ahead this month in England.

But Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group said, external it had withdrawn students from this month's exams "in the interests of the health, safety and mental well being of learners".

Evesham College has done the same, external and spokesman Matthew Whitaker said he feels BTEc students are often overlooked.

"When the decisions have to be made about exams and the like, A-Levels and GCSEs come to mind straight away and they are all summer exams and then it seems to have been a bit of an after thought."

Matthew Knott is studying for his vocational course at Hereford Sixth Form College and is due to sit an IT exam in a fortnight which he said he would like to take.

"At the same time I would like them to cancel them as well, mainly because two weeks teaching will be missed as a result of the lockdown leading up to the exam," he added.

BBC Weather Watchers

We've had more snow and ice around this morning in the West Midlands and here are some of the many photos sent in by our BBC Weather Watchers.

They are from users Videoman in Leek, Staffordshire, Snaphappy in Lickey End, Worcestershire and Stormchaser Al in Halesowen, Dudley:

Image source, Videoman

Image source, Snaphappy

Image source, Stormchaser Al

Hereford Times

The Hereford Times has these headlines today:

• Plans for more coronavirus testing sites in Herefordshire, external
• Drug-driver was caught twice in Herefordshire streets, external
• Firefighters to the rescue after child gets tin stuck on head, external

Giles Latcham
BBC Midlands Today

An ambulance service experienced the busiest day it has ever recorded on Monday with more than 5,000 calls in 24 hours.

West Midlands Ambulance Service dealt with 5,383 calls on the day, more than the previous highest total of 5,001 in March 2018.

Some crews waited more than five hours to handover patients at A&E departments struggling to handle the influx of Covid-19 cases.

They usually allow half an hour to hand a patient over and on Monday 381 cases took an hour or more.

At one point 15 ambulances were waiting to hand over patients outside New Cross in Wolverhampton.

A source described it as “a very challenging day” and said in total, handovers accounted for 759 hours, equivalent to taking 63 ambulances off the road.

BBC Midlands Today

Thousands of school pupils and teachers across the Midlands are waiting for a statement from the education secretary today to outline plans to replace cancelled GCSE and A-Level exams.

Gavin Williamson, who is also the MP for South Staffordshire, is expected to speak in the House of Commons later.

The decision to cancel exams for the second consecutive academic year was confirmed on Monday after many children had attended the first day of term.

The government had said the Department for Education was working with exams regulator Ofqual, to find a way to assess students that is fair

Tom Bell, an A-Level student in the West Midlands, said he and fellow students have mixed feelings on the decision.

"There is a sense of a kind of relief because obviously we have not been in college for a good six months after this February half-term," he said.

"You feel like we have not had the same level of knowledge given to us as previous years would have but obviously there is a sense of disappointment for people."

A toddler needed help from fire crews after getting a biscuit tin wedged on their head.

The fire service said, external it was called to the home in Peterchurch, near Hereford, Herefordshire, on Tuesday evening and freed the two-year-old, who was otherwise uninjured.

The UK's oldest identical twins, Doris Hobday and Lil Cox have both tested positive for coronavirus.

Despite, they say, spending most of 2020 inside and sticking to the rules.

The 96-year-old sisters from Tipton posted the news on their Facebook page, external and urged people to take the restrictions seriously.

They wrote: "We are both in shock... we have been inside for most of 2020 sticking to all the rules and being careful, now this has happened and we can’t work out why or where we’ve picked it up from.

"We are writing this hoping we can save people from getting this horrible virus, please, please, please take this seriously - Covid is real and it’s affecting so many lives across the world... don't let it affect yours or your families [sic]."

As lockdown 3.0 officially starts today, the latest figures from Public Health England show just why more severe measures are being introduced.

Every local authority area in the West Midlands saw a rise in Covid-19 cases in the week up to 1 January.

Shropshire, while still having among the fewest cases in the region, saw its rate of new infections increase almost three-fold in just a week.

Walsall, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Worcester, Wyre Forest, North Warwickshire, Tamworth and Telford all saw their number of new cases more than double over the same period.

Wolverhampton, which has the highest rate in the West Midlands, saw it rise from 419.6 per 100,000 people (in the week up to 25 December) to 772.3.

Sandwell, Walsall, Birmingham, Dudley and South Staffordshire all saw their rates climb over 550 per 100,000 people.

Express and Star

The Express and Star is covering these stories today:

• Sports halls, community hubs and old department stores set to open as mass vaccination centres, external
• Takeaway ban could sound the death knell for struggling pubs, external
• Patient launches £150,000 claim over operation complications, external

West Midlands universities are mapping out lockdown plans as students threaten to withhold rent fees.