New, more comprehensive coronavirus update shows York close to 900 infections

Following the outcry when it was revealed that about half the data was missing from local coronavirus figures, the Government has updated its reporting methods.

Public Health England is now including both Pillar 1 test results – done in PHE labs and NHS hospitals – and the formerly missing Pillar 2 test results, carried out in the wider community – including the facility at Poppleton in York.

So we are finally getting a clearer picture as to the true infection rate, As at 27 June, the total confirmed coronavirus cases in York stood at 887.

The new update shows this had increased to 895 by Thursday (2 July). That’s an infection rate of 426.4 per 100,000 people.

In North Yorkshire the full coronavirus total has been revealed as 2,504. With just the Pillar 1 data, this figure was 1,356.

It gives a new infection rate for the county of 407.5 per 100K.

There are 132 cases in Ryedale (Pillar 1 data alone = 80), 311 in Selby (139), 694 in Harrogate (325) and 560 in Scarborough (314).

In an announcement about the new data, PHE said: “The methodology for reporting positive cases changed on 2 July 2020 to remove duplicates within and across pillars 1 and 2, to ensure that a person who tests positive is only counted once.

“Due to this change, and a revision of historical data in pillar 1, the cumulative total for positive cases is 30,302 lower than if you added the daily figure to yesterday’s total.”

With that in mind, here are the updated figures from Thursday (Wednesday’s numbers in brackets):

• Total lab confirmed UK cases: 283,757 (313,483)
• Daily lab confirmed UK cases: 576 (829)
• Total number UK deaths: 43,995 (43,906)
• Daily UK deaths: 89 (176)
• Confirmed cases in York: 895 (463 – only Pillar 1 tests)
• Confirmed cases in North Yorkshire: 2,504 (1,356)
• Confirmed cases in East Yorkshire: 1,628 (966)