North Yorkshire Covid rate 'a week behind' London

There are currently 94 patients with Covid in North Yorkshire's hospitals

North Yorkshire is a "week or so" behind the surge in Covid infections and hospitalisations seen in London, a public health consultant has said.

Dr Victoria Turner told councillors there were a "relatively small number" of cases of the Omicron variant.

Currently, there were a total of 39 Covid patients in hospital in South Tees, 26 in York, 16 in Scarborough and 13 in Harrogate, she said.

However, Dr Turner said those numbers were likely to rise into the New Year.

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She told a North Yorkshire County Council meeting the level of Covid hospitalisations being seen was "predominantly reflecting where we were with the Delta variant a couple of weeks ago".

"But it is safe to say Omicron is going to be the dominant variant in North Yorkshire," she added.

Her comments came as early studies by researchers at Imperial College London found the Omicron variant may cause milder illness than Delta.

Sue Peckitt, chief nurse at the NHS North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group, described the situation as "fairly stable", but added health services were still feeling the strain from winter pressures, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

She added that a large number of the Covid patients currently receiving treatment were over-65s and that most of those in intensive care were unvaccinated or had underlying health conditions.

More than 370,000 people have now had their Covid booster jab in North Yorkshire, according to official figures

Ms Peckitt said preparations were being made should any additional beds be needed over Christmas and New Year.

"Omicron is coming into North Yorkshire and we anticipate we may see more hospitalisations, but we are waiting to see what the trend is showing in other parts of the country," she said.

Public Health England figures show more than 370,060 people across North Yorkshire have now had their booster vaccine, which is 64% of the county's population.

Selby has the highest weekly infection rate in the county with 716 cases per 100,000 people, followed by Harrogate at 643, Craven at 617, Ryedale at 594, Hambleton at 545, Richmondshire at 417 and Scarborough at 352.

The England average is 1,006.