Covid briefing for Harrogate district and North Yorkshire to take place tomorrow

What are the 'Tier 4' restrictions and will Harrogate be hit with tougher New Year Covid regulations?

The weekly briefings by the North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum led by senior officials in the county had not been set to resume until the New Year because of the Christmas break.

But today the council said it would now be hosting a NYLRF media briefing tomorrow, Wednesday "to respond to rising transmissions rates in a number of areas of North Yorkshire and York and to respond to the tiering announcement expected tomorrow from Government."

The change of heart follows the latest NHS England figures today, Tuesday showing there had been 30 more Covid-19 deaths recorded at Yorkshire hospitals, including one death at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust. (See below for a breakdown of the figures in Yorkshire hospitals).

It brings the total number of coronavirus patients to have died at hospital in Yorkshire this year to 5,860.

Despite Harrogate's Covid rate remaining well below the national average, there are fears that a nationwide spike and the added pressures on NHS services will force Prime Minister Boris Johnson into either announcing a full lockdown, or sweeping the 'Tier 4' restrictions across every region of the nation.

Speculation is also growing that coronavirus restrictions could be introduced in England akin to a “tier 5” lockdown after medical experts warned the current Tier system might not be enough to control the pandemic.

Harrogate is currently under 'Tier 2' restrictions, but with the next review scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday, December 30, it is expected that the region will be hit with much tougher regulations.

The most recent figures for the district showed a Covid case rate of 94 per 100,000, with 230 deaths recorded to December 11 and 4,127 cases recorded to December 24.

There were 151 cases reported in the week from December 14 to December 20.

Deaths were recorded at the following hospital trusts in Yorkshire

Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust - 1

Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust - 2

Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - 1

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust - 1

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - 5

Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust - 4

Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust - 1

Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust - 2

The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust - 3

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - 8

York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust - 2

Please note: Deaths were recorded where a patient either tested positive for Covid-19 or where no positive test result was received for Covid-19, but Covid-19 was mentioned on their death certificate.

NHS England releases updated figures each day showing the dates of every coronavirus-related death at hospitals in England, often including previously uncounted deaths that took place several days or even weeks ago.

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