Ryedale continues to have the lowest Covid rate in England.

Public Health England said yesterday (Tuesday) that the rolling seven-day rate in the week to May 27 Ryedale had once again had no new Covid cases confirmed, and the district was the only one in England with a zero rolling rate in the week to May 27. Only three districts in Scotland - the Orkneys, Shetland and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, or the western isles - also had a zero rate.

It said the rate in Selby district, which was the UK’s worst Covid hotspot at the end of April, had fallen again to just 16.6.

North Yorkshire’s rate was up slightly to 13.9 from 13.1, and East Yorkshire’s was up slightly from 22.6 to 23.4.

The figures came after York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust revealed today that two Covid patients were now being treated at its hospitals in York and Scarborough - up from one such patient last Friday.