YORK and Scarborough hospitals are now treating more Covid patients than at any other time during the pandemic - and ten more such inpatients have now died.

The York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust revealed yesterday that it now had 233 patients with the coronavirus -which it said was 18 more than at the height of the Alpha wave in January last year.

A spokeswoman said there were now three Covid wards at York and another three at Scarborough, and four patients with the disease were currently in intensive care.

However, she stressed that the vast majority of patients who had tested positive for Covid were in hospital for other conditions and were asymptomatic or experiencing mild symptoms.

"A very small number are on active treatment for Covid," she said.

The trust's previous record for Covid patient numbers was said to have been 242 in January last year, but the spokeswoman said the trust must have done some 'validation work' on the data since then, as the figure for its previous highest number of patients was now reported as being 215 in January 2021.

The trust revealed last week that it had had to postpone some routine elective activity for the next two weeks in response to increased demand for beds, due to high emergency admissions and the growing numbers of patients with Covid-19.

Asked yesterday if it was possible the trust would have to suspend routine ops for beyond the fortnight, because of the continuing rise in the number of patients with Covid, the spokeswoman said it was 'not possible to know for sure.'

She said: "We need the numbers to start coming down. We’re keeping it under daily review, with the hope that we can reinstate these operations once the bed position is a little less pressured."

The rising numbers come as the latest data from NHS England showed yesterday that the total number of deaths related to Covid at the trust is now 828, up by ten on the previous figure,while a further 156 deaths have been recorded across England.

The latest data from the UK Health Security Agency also shows that the city’s Covid infection rate has increased by 20, taking it to 586.2 cases per 100,000 population.

The data shows that a further 250 cases have been recorded in the City of York Council area, taking the total for the pandemic to 57,409.

In North Yorkshire, the rate has increased by 38, taking it to 491.1 cases per 100,000 population. A further 614 cases have been recorded in the North Yorkshire County Council area, taking the total for the pandemic to 164,246.

In the East Riding of Yorkshire, the rate has increased by 27, taking it to 485.1 cases per 100,000 population - with a further 335 cases recorded in the area taking the total for the pandemic to 93,423.