No new virus outbreaks at Harrogate care homes - but deaths overtake hospital fatalities

But health officials are warning the care sector remains at a "critical" stage of the pandemic - after it was confirmed on Wednesday that more people have now died with the virus in Harrogate's care homes than at the hospital.

As of May 22, there have been a total of 72 deaths linked to the virus in the district's care homes.

This is four more than the 68 coronavirus deaths that have been recorded at Harrogate District Hospital since the crisis began in March.

And while the government is facing strong criticism for its handling of outbreaks in care homes, North Yorkshire County Council says its support to the sector "continues to pay dividends" with new infections falling.

The council's chief executive Richard Flinton said: "Our efforts to secure reliable and consistent access to swabs to facilitate faster testing, continue.

"And we very much hope to see a resolution to the delays which put pressure on these settings which are home to many of our most vulnerable residents and no doubt many of your loved ones."

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Figures from Public Health England show almost half of Harrogate's 71 care homes have reported virus outbreaks.

The week commencing May 25 was the first time no new outbreaks were recorded for the first time in nine weeks.

Dr Lincoln Sargeant, North Yorkshire's director of public health, said the council is supporting care homes with cash from the government's £600million infection control fund.

He said: "We remain at a critical stage in the management of the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on the care sector as we continue to see infections and deaths.

"Our care market resilience plan, which was sent to the Department for Health and Social Care last week, is now published on our website. We have been ahead in implementing this plan for some weeks, working at speed with the care sector and with individual homes to take the necessary action to support residents and to halt any further spread of the virus.

"As part of this approach, we have received North Yorkshire’s share of the national £600m infection control fund - £8.4million – based on this strong monitoring and control partnership between ourselves and the care sector. 75 per cent of this sum will go out to care homes in two waves.

"The first wave (c£3m) going out in the next few days and we’ve written to providers over the weekend.

"The remaining 25 per cent is allocated at our discretion and we are currently working through the options."

By Jacob Webster, Local Democracy Reporter