A COUNTRY area on York’s doorstep has now gone 25 days without a single new confirmed case of coronavirus.

While parts of West Yorkshire have seen restrictions tightened in the  wake of soaring numbers of Covid-19 cases, the Ryedale District Council area has not had any new cases confirmed since Wednesday July 8.

The total number of confirmed cases remained today at 135, in Public Health England figures which include tests carried out in laboratories (pillar one of the Government’s testing programme) and in the wider community (pillar two).

The Ryedale rate is 245.8 per 100,000 population, compared with 440.7 in the City of York Council area and an average of 469.4 across the whole of England.

The number of confirmed cases in York has risen from 902 on July 8 to 925 today.

The latest data means Ryedale is near the top of a national league table for going the longest spell without a new case.

However, the figures only relate to confirmed cases and do not mean Ryedale has necessarily been completely free of coronavirus: someone may have had the disease but without it being detected – either because they were ill and did not get tested or because they had no symptoms and so were unaware they even had Covid-19.