A parish church in Acomb has suspended all public worship until at least the end of January because of York's rising Covid infecton rate.

The Government did not require churches and places of worship to close in the latest lockdown.

But in a letter to his parishioners Father Tony Lester of Our Lady's Roman Catholic Church in Cornlands Road cited the 'exceptionally high level of transmission' in Acomb.

"No priest likes to close a church or to suspend public worship but I have been increasingly concerned that just carrying on is potentially dangerous; not just to the people who might attend but to their families and communities when they return home," Fr Tony wrote.

He said he was also worried about 'our stewards and eucharistic ministers who are in the front line in terms of contact with people coming to Mass'.

Fr Tony consulted with the parish pastoral council and the local Dean, who were also in favour of suspending worship.

"I have, therefore, decided that ... there will be no public worship at Our Lady's at least until the end of January and we will review the situation then," he says in his letter to parishioners. "This will apply to all communities who worship here."

Fr Tony said he had 'fully expected' that churches would be asked to suspend public worship during lockdown.

He became worried when this did not happen, he wrote.

In the latest figures, Acomb had a rolling coronavirus infection rate of 917 people per 100,000 of the population - one of the highest in York and well above the English national average.

Explaining the decision to suspend services at Our Lady's, Fr Tony said: "I know that this means we are ceasing worship when the government allows it to continue but, as one member of the PPC (parish pastoral council) wisely said, 'The current protocol for public worship was set up to deal with the initial virus and has not been altered to take into account the more virulent strain'.

"I hope that you understand that this hasn't been the easiest decision but I believe it to be the right one to help us all, and to help the people we live amongst, to stay safe and to help the NHS."

The last Mass with a congregation attending at the church was on Wednesday morning - Epiphany. 

Since last March, however, the parish has also been streaming its parish Mass every Sunday. The streamed services will continue: Mass on Sundays at 10am and night prayer on Fridays at 7pm.