YORK'S Covid rate has now fallen to less than a third of its peak earlier this month.

Public Health England said today that the seven-day rolling rate in the City of York Council area in the week to January 26 was 213.2 cases per 100,000 population.

That compares with a peak of 670.4 in the week to January 8.

It has also fallen below the average for the whole of Yorkshire and The Humber, which stands today at 217 and is well below the national average, of 309.5.

The rate has also fallen to 170.0 cases per 100,000 in the North Yorkshire County Council area and to 171.2 in the East Riding of Yorkshire Council area.

Sharon Stoltz, York's Director of Public Health said yesterday that York people cannot let their guard down yet, with an estimated 70 per cent of new cases in York caused by the new UK variant which spread much more easily.

She said case rates were still far higher than she would like and the NHS was still under significant pressure, which meant it was vital everyone continued to work together to slow the spread of infection.