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Sharp increase in confirmed cases of coronavirus in York and North Yorkshire

Police talk to a driver at a vehicle checkpoint in York. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA Wire
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The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus has risen sharply in both York and North Yorkshire, the latest figures show.

Data on the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK for today (Monday, 30 March) shows there are now 30 cases confirmed in York. That’s up from 21 the day before – a 42% increase.

And the number in North Yorkshire has gone past 100. There are now 108 confirmed cases in the county, compared to 88 yesterday (Sunday, 29 March). That’s a 22% increase.

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Here are some of the key stats (the number the day before is in brackets):

  • Total UK cases: 22,141 (19,552)
  • Daily confirmed UK cases: 2,107 (2,433)
  • Total UK deaths: 1,408 (1,228)
  • Confirmed cases in York: 30 (21)
  • Confirmed cases in North Yorkshire: 108 (88)
  • Confirmed cases in East Yorkshire: 35 (31)

York Central MP Rachael Maskell has warned against people taking the figures for York too seriously.

She said many people with symptoms have not been tested and added: “It means people may think there are not very many cases in York and that it’s not too bad – whereas actually that’s a false sense of security – and therefore people aren’t protecting themselves enough.

“Coronavirus is very prevalent in our community now.”

Epidemic ‘starting to slow’

A deserted Duncombe Place last Thursday. Photograph: Simon Peach/PA Wire

The coronavirus epidemic in the UK appears to be starting to slow down, a scientist who has been advising the Government on the outbreak has said.

Professor Neil Ferguson, of Imperial College London, said the slowing of the spread of Covid-19 was the result of the social distancing measures brought in by the Government.

“In the UK we can see some early signs of slowing in some indicators – less so deaths because deaths are lagged by a long time from when measures come in force,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

“But if we look at the numbers of new hospital admissions, that does appear to be slowing down a bit now.

“It has not yet plateaued, so still the numbers can be increasing each day but the rate of that increase has slowed.”

Professor Ferguson said the epidemic was spreading at different rates in different parts of the country.

“It is quite clear across the country, the epidemic is in different stages in different parts of the country,” he said.

“In central London it could be as many as 3% to 5% of the population has been infected – maybe more in individual hot spots. In the country as a whole in the UK, maybe 2% or 3%.”

He said antibody tests, currently in final stages of validation, would be “critical” to the understanding of the epidemic, adding they would “hopefully” be available in days.

 

Additional reporting: local democracy reporter Chloe Laversuch