Scarborough borough's coronavirus infection rate remains lowest in North Yorkshire

Prime Minister Boris Johnson laid out his roadmap out of lockdown yesterday, which starts with schools going back on March 8 with an end date for all restrictions pencilled in for June 21.

Scarborough’s coronavirus infection rate remains the lowest in North Yorkshire as the borough’s seven day infection rate per 100,000 people remained at 57 for the second day running.

The number of Covid-19 patients in Scarborough Hospital has fallen to 14, down four on last week.

At a meeting of the North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum Amanda Bloor, NHS North Yorkshire CCG accountable officer warned that the timetable for the unlocking could slip if rates go back up.

She said: “Matt Hancock has been speaking this morning and his view is that the timescale that has been outlined in the roadmap is welcomed but actually achieving that is on all of us, it is our responsibility.

“It depends how we respond to the news and I know that we all want to be unlocked and try and get on with normal life as quickly as we can but unless we keep doing what we are doing now and we stay at home the danger is that the numbers increase again.

“By staying at home now and being patient we will see those levels continue to come down.”

Chief Inspector Charlotte Bloxham of North Yorkshire Police also stated that the “stay at home” order remains in place until March 29.

Her warning came as 192 fixed penalty notices for breaches of Covid regulations were issued in the last week, the most in the third lockdown so far.

Scarborough once again topped the league table of shame with 67 fines issued. Harrogate was in second place with 34.

Chief Inspector Bloxham added: “It is really important that we don’t get too far ahead of ourselves at the moment and through irresponsible actions jeopardise the progress we have been making.

“Until [March 29] the current lockdown restrictions will stay in place and we will continue to police them and take enforcement action against any breaches.”