Covid-19 Restrictions Could Be Tightened In Scarborough Borough If Rules Aren't Followed

Restrictions could be tightened in the Borough of Scarborough if residents don't follow Covid-19 guidelines.

That's from North Yorkshire's Director of Public Health, who says it could become like the North East of England.

It's after Scarborough, Whitby, Filey and the surrounding villages were put onto the Government's watch list of 'Areas of Concern'.

People are asked to be extra vigilant to prevent further increases in Coronavirus cases.

Dr Lincoln Sargeant said:

"We know in North Yorkshire that a lot of the infections have spread through household contact and through social contact.

"So we're asking people to be extra vigilant about hand hygiene, social distancing and the additional precaution when leaving, is to use a face covering.

"We know in some areas there can be crowding; I've been sent pictures of Whitby with lots of people milling around and wearing a face covering helps in those situations.

"If we all pull together and do these actions in a concerted effort, we can begin to see the numbers decrease over the next two to three weeks.

"If they do not, then we would find that we have to apply more restrictions.

"Clearly the rule of six is going to make a huge difference here. So not socialising outside of your household groupings, or your social bubbles and restricting any meetings to those six as specified.

"One of the things that we've been working with is around large events like funfairs and circuses, particularly for events that are planned in these areas, for them to cancel as much as possible during this time when the rates are increasing.

"I know that a lot of people have been having difficulty accessing testing; what we've been doing in North Yorkshire is ensuring that the mobile testing units are being deployed where we know that infection is increasing."