YORK'S Covid rate slipped back below the national average for both England and the UK today, after briefly rising above them both yesterday.

Public Health England said yesterday that the rolling seven-day rate for the City of York Council area in the week to April 26 was 25.6 cases per 100,000 population, slightly higher than the average for England of 23.8 cases per 100,000 and for the UK of 23.6.

But York's rate for the week to April 27 announced today showed it falling to 21.8, below England's figure of 23.4 and the UK's of 23.2. There were also only two new cases reported today after four yesterday.

Some weeks ago, York's rate was below 10, and no new cases at all were being reported on some days, when the national rate was considerably higher than the city's, but York's rate has since risen slowly while the national rate has been subsiding.

The recent increase in the city's rate may be partially associated with the situation in the Selby district, which is the UK's Covid hotspot after a recent outbreak at local business Clipper Logistics.

The rate in the district rose to 114.8 yesterday but fell to 104 today, slightly higher than the rate of 98.7 for the second worst spot, Hyndburn in Lancashire.

The North Yorkshire County Council area's rate stood today at 30.6, while in the East Riding of Yorkshire Council area it was 31.9.