FOR the first time in what seems a long while, York's Covid infection rate has shown a slight but measurable fall.

The latest figures from Public Health England show that in the last 24 hours, the 'rolling rate' of infection in the city has fallen to 618.7 people per 100,000 of the population -down from the high of 626.3 per 100,000 yesterday.

In the seven days up to January 5, York had 1,303 cases of coronavirus. That represents a fall in the last 24 hours of 16 cases - even though the figures are still way higher than they were a week ago.

York Central MP Rachael Maskell stressed this afternoon that the slight fall in the figures did not mean anyone should relax.

There were often slight fluctuations in figures, especially at the weekend, she said.

"The key thing is that we absolutely must continue to follow the guidelines," the Labour MP said. "I will not be going to London tomorrow as I normally would, because we have been told to stay at home. The infection is still rife within the community."

Despite the slight overall drop in cases, infection rates in York still vary widely from ward to ward.

Westfield, Chapelfields and Foxwood now has the highest infection rate in the city, at a rolling rate of 1,311.1/ 100,000. It is followed by Clifton Without and Skelton at 1,034.3/ 100,000, Woodthorpe and Acomb Park at 1,016.9/ 100,000 and Acomb at 907.4.

Elsewhere in the region, North Yorkshire now has an infection rate of 449.8/ 100,000 - up very slightly from 448/ 100,000 the day before. It had a total of 2,780 Covid cases in the week up to January 5 - an increase of 74 per cent in a week.

The infection rate in the East Riding of Yorkshire stands at 229.2/ 100,000 - slightly down on yesterday's figure of 241.8/ 100,000. It has 782 cases - 43 fewer than the day before.

The infection rate for England as a whole is now 650.9/ 100,000 - again a slight fall on the day before, when it was 677.5/ 100,000.

Scotland has an infection rate of 299.8/ 100,000 (down from 301.5); Wales a rate of 468.2/ 100,000 (down from 505.3); and Northern Ireland a rate of 671.5/ 100,000.

As of January 3, a total of 1,296,432 in the UK had been given a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine

You can check out how your area is doing using the interactive map here