Covid-19 cases in Scarborough borough are nearly double what was previously stated in official figures; our infection rate is above the English average

Previously, 314 positive tests for the borough had been reported but this only applied to tests carried out in hospitals, known as Pillar 1 testing.

The Government has now released the data for Pillar 2 tests, which is anyone tested at one of the mobile sites in the borough or sent a test to take at home.

It shows there have actually been 560 confirmed cases in the borough.

Five new cases were confirmed in the borough between June 18 and 23.

Since June 23 there have been no confirmed cases recorded for Scarborough, meaning the rest of the new additions are all historical cases that have not previously been reported.

The additions also mean that Scarborough’s rate of infection per 100,000 people has leapt to 515 from its previous position below 300.

This puts Scarborough’s rate of infection above that of North Yorkshire as a whole (407.5) and the average across England (435.7).

However, the borough’s rate is below that of Yorkshire and The Humber combined (527.3), the North West (581.4) and the North East (566.5).

Across the county almost 1,200 cases were added under the Pillar 2 testing data, bringing North Yorkshire’s total to 2,504.

The rate of infection per 100,000 people in Leicester, which this week was put into the country’s first local lockdown, currently stands at 1,034.

In Yorkshire, both Barnsley and Bradford have rates of infection above 750.

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