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Wednesday update: North Yorkshire declares coronavirus ‘major incident’

Staff working at a Coronavirus testing centre at Temple Green Park and Ride in Leeds. Photograph: Danny Lawson / PA Wire

There’s a contrast between city and county in the Covid-19 update tonight (Wednesday, 16 September).

In York nine more cases of coronavirus were confirmed. That takes the cumulative total to 1,070 – giving an overall infection rate of 508 cases per 100,000 people.

The rolling seven-day rate in York is 30.9 new cases per 100,000 people (65 cases in the week to 13 September). That’s up from 14.2 in the previous seven days (30 cases in the week to 6 September).

Meanwhile a major incident has been declared by officials in North Yorkshire following “a surge” in coronavirus cases in the past fortnight.

North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum (NYLRF) said it was reinstating “full emergency mode”, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The body, which is made up of representatives from the police and local authorities, said Harrogate and Selby were of particular concern.

Richard Flinton, chair of NYLRF, said: “In North Yorkshire we have remained at a high level of alert since lockdown eased and we have monitored and managed outbreaks where they have happened very successfully with test-and-trace.

“However, we are seeing community transmission of the virus now and a worrying rise in cases in a number of areas.

“We know how quickly infection rates can change and we are calling on the whole county to act now with us in response.” he added.

In North Yorkshire, 41 new cases were confirmed today, taking the cumulative total to 3,134 – an infection rate of 507.1 cases per 100K.

There are 157 cases in Ryedale (no change), 434 in Selby (up ten), 888 in Harrogate (up ten), 380 in Hambleton (up five), 660 in Scarborough (up eight), 301 in Richmondshire (up one) and 314 in Craven (up seven).

NYLRF said it was “stepping up support” for care homes, with some being told to reintroduce visitor restrictions.

Other measures include people being encouraged to wear face masks whenever they leave home, and dedicated police patrols targeting those breaking social distancing rules.

There were no more coronavirus related deaths reported by York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust reported today – the total remains at 214. The last death recorded within the trust was on 18 June.

The total includes 134 in York Hospital and 80 in Scarborough.

Here are the updated figures (yesterday’s numbers in brackets):

  • Total lab confirmed UK cases: 378,219 (374,228)
  • Daily lab confirmed UK cases: 3,991 (3,105)
  • Total number UK deaths: 41,684 (41,664)
  • Daily UK deaths: 20 (27)
  • Confirmed cases in York: 1,070 (1,061)
  • Confirmed cases in North Yorkshire: 3,134 (3,093)
  • Confirmed cases in East Yorkshire: 1,824 (1,808)
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