THE number of Covid patients at York and Scarborough hospitals has risen above 50 again - as the number of cases in the York council area continues to fall.

The York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said today that it was treating 52 confirmed or suspected Covid patients.

The figure is slightly up on recent days but still considerably lower than the peak of 242 Covid patients at the height of the second wave in January.

The trust said five of the patients were in intensive care, and a total of 2,539 Covid patients had now been discharged, or were no longer being treated as having the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, Public Health England said that the rolling seven-day Covid infection rate in the City of York Council area in the week to September 11 had fallen to 204.3 cases per 100,000 population.

This compared with a rate of 319.7 for the North Yorkshire County Council area and 386.7 for the East Riding of Yorkshire Council area, and with an average rate of 297.2 for the whole of England and of 347.9 for the UK.

The lowest rate in York was 40.9 in the Fulford, Heslington and University of York area, after just four cases were confirmed.