Rate of people testing positive for Covid-19 in Doncaster rises but is below national average

The ‘positivity rate’ - which shows the percentage of people tested that week returned at least one positive result, with any duplicates removed - for the town rose to 1.1 per cent for the week ending June 2, up from 1.0 per cent the previous week.

Latest results see the council area ranked joint 120th in the country and below the national average of 1.5 per cent, which rose from 0.9 per cent the previous week.

Of the South Yorkshire areas, only Barnsley (1.7 per cent) is above the national average with Rotherham (1.3) and Sheffield (1.2) sitting below.

Yorkshire as a whole has delivered the second highest positivity rate of the key areas in the country with 1.9 per cent, with the likes of Kirklees (3.3), Bradford (3.2) and Leeds (2.7) upping the overall rate.

Such figures are under close scrutiny with the scheduled lifting of lockdown restrictions on June 21 rapidly approaching.

A total of 13 council areas in England returned a positivity rate of 5.0 per cent or more, putting them above a safe limit on Covid test positivity rates set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for governments considering relaxing lockdowns.

All 13 areas were in the North West. One area – Blackburn with Darwen – was more than double the threshold, while Rossendale and Bolton were approaching double.

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