Scarborough borough's coronavirus infection rate falls to single figures for first time since August

The borough’s rate per 100,000 people now stands at nine, a level it has not reached since August 31.

Scarborough’s rate remains below the averages for North Yorkshire and England which stand at 13 and 23 respectively.

It means the borough is averaging 10 new cases a week.

One person has been admitted to Scarborough Hospital with Covid-19 in the last week, the first patient at the site for a fortnight.

At a meeting of North Yorkshire’s Local Resilience Forum this morning Richard Webb, the county council’s director for Health and Adult Services, said that the low rates were good news but warned that the situation can change quickly.

He said: “The figures are improving in North Yorkshire.

“However, we should remain vigilant, we should be prepared for fluctuations and changes and actually we only need a cluster of cases and we would have to respond in the same way as other parts of the country.

“I want to give you the reassurance that we are well tried and tested in our response to anything that may occur.

“We have regular testing of our plans in terms of if we had to do surge testing.

“So the message is to be confident in the vaccine, to be confident in the roadmap progression and also as part of living with Covid to be careful still about keeping your distance, hands, face, space and fresh air and also just to be careful and be willing to take precautionary measures if we did have an upswing in cases.”

Mobile testing facilities will be available in Whitby, Scarborough and Filey this week for anyone with symptoms to get tested.

To see the locations and to book a test visit www.northyorks.gov.uk/book-coronavirus-covid-19-testWilliam Street Coach Park in Scarborough is also still offering testing seven days a week from 8am until 8pm.

Tests can be booked at www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test.