YORK and North Yorkshire now have some of the lowest Covid rates in the north of England and the Midlands, a Public Health England map has revealed.

The rolling seven-day infection rate in the week to March 4 in the City of York Council area was 45.6 cases per 100,000 population after 96 people tested positive - the same as a day earlier.

The rate in the North Yorkshire County Council area was 43.2 per 100,000, down from 43.7, and in the East Riding of Yorkshire Council area, the rate was down to 73.6 from 76.5.

Because they are below a threshold of 50, York and North Yorkshire are shaded light green in the map - the only areas of England north of Norfolk to be that colour, apart from Cumbria.

Areas to the west and south of York are shaded blue because their rates were still above 100, with Bradford having a rate of 140.4, Wakefield one of 138.7 and Kirklees one of 106.4.

But latest Covid death statistics from NHS England showed yesterday that the high rates of earlier this year are still causing fatalities among patients at York and Scarborough hospitals.

It said the total number of patients to have died from Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust now stood at 580, up by two on Monday's figure.