The number of Coronavirus cases in Wells has more than doubled in a week, according to official figures.

In the seven days up to March 9, the number of cases rose to 58, up from 31 from the previous week, representing an increase of 114.8%, and it is expected that the figure will be up again when the next round of stats are revealed.

Although it's still a small number compared to many places in the country the city is feeling the effects nonetheless. On Friday, Year 7 pupils at Wells Blue School were asked to stay at home after more than 40 pupils in the year group (and 73 across the school), tested positive. On Monday, there were no Year 12 in-person classes, and on Tuesday, Year 8 pupils have been asked to stay at home.

In a letter to parents headteacher Mark Woodlock said, "I am highly conscious of the level of disruption this causes and had hoped that we would not find ourselves in this situation. This current wave does appear to be causing more illness, particularly amongst staff, than previous waves that we have experienced. If your child is feeling unwell, please keep them away from school and undertake a covid test. Our greatest protection in school is avoiding infectious individuals coming into school."

Parents were last yesterday (Tuesday) sent another letter outlining plans for the rest of the week to cope with the sky-rocketing number of cases.

In the letter, Mt Woodlock wrote: "The number of positive cases has continued to increase. As of yesterday, we had over 130 positive cases amongst students. There is a much more even spread

across the year groups than last week, but a particularly disconcerting rise in the number in Year 11.

"Our staffing situation has worsened and we have around 30 staff absent, around half of those amongst classroom teaching staff."

Year 9 have been asked to stay at home today (Wednesday), Year 7 on Thursday and Year 10 on Friday. A new vaccination centre for Wells will be opening on Friday (March 18) at St Thomas Church Hall off St Thomas Street. It is being provided by the large Locking Pharmacy near Weston-super-Mare, which has run vaccination centres before, and asks patients to use the National Booking System (NBS) for appointments.

Their clinic will be open on Fridays only, between 3pm-7pm, and appointments will be available to book via NBS. The pharmacy will review how these appointments book up to consider whether it's appropriate to open for walk-ins, for longer hours and on more days. If they do decide to offer walk-in provision this will be listed via Grab a Jab.