Infections halve in North Yorkshire coronavirus hotspot

Two weeks ago Scarborough had the second highest infection rate in England

Coronavirus cases in one of the country's worst affected areas have more than halved in two weeks.

Scarborough's infection rate has fallen to 296 per 100,000, with 17 new Covid-19 cases recorded in the past 24 hours.

On 11 November the town's infection rate stood at 611, the second-highest in England.

Cases across North Yorkshire have also declined with the average for the county now 196 cases, lower than the national average of 207.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, health officials hope the county could avoid the toughest tier of coronavirus restrictions as the national lockdown ends next week.

Richard Webb, the county's corporate director of health and adult services, told a briefing that falling infection rates had given the region some optimism that it could escape the tightest controls set to be announced by the government on Thursday.

However, he warned Covid cases were still 10 times higher than summer, and urged residents to fight down any over-optimism.

Mr Webb said: "We are still seeing people dying from Covid and behind all the numbers are human stories."

The county was under Tier 1 restrictions as it entered the national lockdown which will now end on 2 December.

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