YORK’S battle against the coronavirus has been boosted after new figures showed that more than 45,000 residents have been vaccinated, hospital Covid patient numbers have more than halved and infection rates are falling in care homes, schools and universities.

As NHS England confirmed that over 65s across the country could now start having the Covid jab, City of York Council’s weekly ‘data tracker’ report said that a total of 45,596 York residents had received their first dose as of Wednesday, with 1,049 having received both doses.

The report also revealed that:

  •  Nineteen York children of primary and secondary school age tested positive for Covid in the seven days up to last Sunday, compared with 28 children the previous week.
  •  Five care homes in the local authority area had confirmed Covid-19 infections involving at least one member of staff or a resident, as of Wednesday, compared with six homes the previous week.
  •  Twenty-one individuals within the University of York community were currently self-isolating because they had had a positive Covid-19 test, as of Wednesday, which compared with 40 the previous week and a peak of 331 on October 19 last year.
  •  Five individuals within the York St John University community were currently self-isolating because they had had a positive Covid-19 test, which compared with nine last week and a peak of 82 on October 8 last year.

Meanwhile, the number of Covid wards at York Hospital has been cut from seven to five after the number of patients with coronavirus fell across the York NHS trust - which also includes Scarborough hospital - to 115 yesterday from a peak of 242 on January 26.

A trust spokeswoman said the fall was “promising” but stressed the number in York Hospital still remained high, and it remained essential for everyone to continue to comply with lockdown restrictions.

There was more good news nationwide yesterday as it was announced that the reproduction number, or R value, of coronavirus had fallen below one for the first time since July and was now estimated to be between 0.7 and 0.9 across the UK.

In a sign that lockdown restrictions were having an impact and the epidemic was shrinking, scientists advising the Government gave their most optimistic outlook for the R number since cases fell last summer.

New data from the Office for National Statistics also showed a drop in infections, with around one in 80 people in private households in England having Covid-19 between January 31 and February 6, down from around one in 65 people for January 24 to 30.

Public Health England data also showed yesterday that the latest Covid rolling seven-day rate in the York council area is 120.1 per 100,000 population - more than five times lower than at its peak in early January, when the seven-day rolling rate was running at 670 - although still higher than the average rate of about 65 in early December.

The latest figure for North Yorkshire yesterday was 124.3 per 100,000 and East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s was 133.1.