THE number of Covid patients at York and Scarborough hospitals has risen slightly - as the number of cases in the area has soared again.

Public Health England said today that the seven day rolling rate in the City of York Council area in the week to June 24 was 240.7 cases per 100,000, compared with an average of 138.4 for the whole of England and 145.4 for the UK.

The rate in the University of York, Heslington and Fulford area had risen to 917.6, one of the highest in the country, following an outbreak at the university.

North Yorkshire's rate yesterday was 123.1 and East Yorkshire's was 70.6.

York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said today that it was now treating eight confirmed and suspected Covid inpatients, one of them in ICU, compared with seven on Monday, none of whom needed intensive care.

But patient numbers still remained only a fraction of the peak of 242 reached at the trust during the second wave of infections in January.

This is because most older, vulnerable people who tended then to be the ones who needed to go into hospital if they caught the virus have now been fully vaccinated, strongly protecting them against infection and hospitalisation.