North Yorkshire infection rate high reportedly due to transmission in young people
The county's infection rate is 546 per 100,000 compared to the England average of 427 per 100,000
The reason for North Yorkshire's infection rate increasing is down to more cases being found within younger people - according to the county's director of public health.
The rate in North Yorkshire - which is 546 per 100,000 - is now well above the national average at 427 per 100,000.
More cases of Covid-19 are being found in young people, but Louise Wallace, North Yorkshire Director of Public Health, has warned the virus is still making its way through all aspects of the community.
She said:
"This is pretty much the highest it has been in a long while in terms of case numbers. What we're seeing is, during the pandemic we were tracking the national average but now we're slightly above it and most of our case number are amongst children and young people.
"That's not to say it is exclusively our children and young people but we do seem to see more cases in that age group at the moment so we are working closely will schools and education settings to make sure we do everything we can to control the virus"
As we approach the festive season, resident are also being urged to take lateral flow tests before meeting up with friends or relatives to prevent the virus from spreading.
It's to prevent asymptomatic people from passing the virus onto others.
Louise Wallace, added:
"When we're going to be in enclosed spaces or in more high risk situations where we can't get a lot of fresh air coming in I think it's really important to do everything we can to stop the spread and of course lateral flows are a great way to see if anyone has covid but doesn't have the symptoms.
"One in three people are asymptomatic so they might be carrying the virus and not be aware. So using lateral flows they're one tool in our toolkit around stopping the spread of the virus. Remember that the virus is still circulating and take responsibility for yourself and your own personal risk but also the people around you."