PEOPLE at risk of having the new Omicron variant are being asked to rearrange their outpatient appointments at York and Scarborough hospitals - as the number of Covid patients being treated has fallen sharply.

York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said that anyone who has travelled from any country in Africa which was now on the red list, or who has been a contact of confirmed Omicron case in the last 14 days, was being asked to rearrange their outpatient appointment.

"You can do this by calling the number on your appointment letter or by calling our contact centre 01904 726400," it said.

"The team will be able to advise you on the best course of action based on your referral, diagnosis and treatment."

Meanwhile, the trust said it was now treating a total of 44 Covid in-patients, one of whom was in intensive care.

The number is considerably lower than at the peak of the current wave of the pandemic in early October, when more than 80 such patients were being treated on a daily basis, and hugely lower than at the peak of last winter's wave, when the number of inpatients at the two sites soared as high as 242.

The trust said it had discharged a total of 2,983 Covid patients to their usual place of residence since the pandemic began last year, or no longer had the illness.