THERE are now almost as many coronavirus patients in York and North Yorkshire hospitals as there were at the peak of the first wave.

A weekly coronavirus press briefing was told that 282 patients with Covid-19 were currently being treated in hospitals in York, Harrogate, Scarborough and South Teeside.

That figure compares with 302 such patients at the peak of the pandemic earlier this year, said Amanda Bloor, of the North Yorkshire clinical commissioning groups.

She said the breakdown was 27 patients in Harrogate, 66 in York, 62 in Scarborough and 127 in South Teesside.