YORK today became the only major English local authority area north of Herefordshire to be shaded yellow in a Public Health England Covid map.

The colour indicates that the City of York Council area achieved a rolling seven day rate of just nine confirmed coronavirus cases per 100,000 population in the week to April 6.

The figure means York joins just a handful of upper tier local authorities in the south in falling within the PHE map's lowest category of zero to nine cases.

It also contrasts starkly with a peak rate of 670 per 100,000 in York at the height of the pandemic in January.

The rate in the North Yorkshire County Council area is also low, at 24.6 per 100,000 people, while the rate for the East Riding of Yorkshire Council area is 33.1.

Areas to the west and south have much higher rates, for example 72.2 in Leeds, 78.2 in Bradford and 82.1 in Doncaster.