Coronavirus: North Yorkshire tier one status 'hanging by a thread'

Many of North Yorkshire's residents work and shop in neighbouring areas with higher infection rates

North Yorkshire's tier one status is "hanging by a thread", according to a senior council official.

Richard Webb, corporate director for health and adult services at the county council, warned a decision on tougher restrictions could be made within days.

North Yorkshire is one of the few parts of northern England to remain in the lowest tier of restrictions.

The infection rate is below the England average, but Mr Webb said that did not mean the area would remain in tier one.

The county's seven-day infection rate is 170.2 per 100,000 people.

• More news and stories from Yorkshire

Mr Webb told a meeting of the Local Resilience Forum the situation was on a knife-edge, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"The situation in North Yorkshire is hanging by a thread," he said.

"We are in a situation where most of the north of England is at a higher level of escalation than we are.

"So we may be in a situation by the end of the week where part or the whole of the county moves into tier two."

Surrounded by the county, the city of York moved to tier two on 18 October

North Yorkshire's director of public health, Dr Lincoln Sargeant, said neighbouring authorities with higher infection rates were having an impact on the county's rate.

"It is probably not surprising. When you look at the patterns of spread in North Yorkshire we find that with Skipton and south Craven there is clearly that connection with Bradford, Harrogate and Selby have strong connections with Leeds, York and South Yorkshire.

"We see the same pattern in the north of the patch with Hambleton and Whitby, which have a strong connection with the north east."

Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail] or send video here.