YORK'S Covid rate has fallen yet again and is now the lowest in the region - meaning it is now an island of pale green on an official map.

Public Health England said today that the rolling seven day infection rate in the City of York Council area in the week to March 16 was 32.3 cases per 100,000 population, down from 33.2 yesterday and 38.5 last Friday.

It compares with 670 at the height of the latest wave of the pandemic in January and is lower than the national average across the whole of England today - 57.1 cases per 100,000 population.

But the rate rose slightly in the North Yorkshire County Council area to 51 today from 49.7 yesterday, while it fell slightly in the East Riding of Yorkshire Council area to 79.1 from 80 yesterday.

York's rate is much lower than the regional average of 109, and its low level means it is shaded light green in a PHE map, unlike other county or unitary council areas which are shaded a darker green or blue.

Meanwhile, NHS England said today that another day has passed at the York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust without another Covid death at either York or Scarborough hospital, with the total number of fatalities since the start of the pandemic remaining at 583 throughout the weekend.

Nationwide, just over three quarters of a million people got their first dose of the vaccine yesterday - a record - taking the total to 27,630,970, with another 91,000 getting a second dose.