Armed forces brought senior NHS to Harrogate’s Nightingale Hospital after landing a Chinook helicopter on the Stray this afternoon.

It landed at around 1pm between Wetherby Road and Knaresborough Road, drawing onlookers as the occupants disembarked.

The Stray Ferret understands the helicopter was used to transport senior NHS staff to the temporary Nightingale hospital, which was officially opened on Tuesday via video link. At present, it is not being used to treat patients, but will remain available until needed.

Eyewitnesses reported that the visitors were taken by van towards Harrogate Convention Centre, before returning two hours later. After a number of people gathered to watch proceedings, officers from North Yorkshire Police arrived to ask them to move back and disperse.

The chinook helicopter left the Stray at around 3.30pm. The NHS Nightingale Yorkshire and the Humber had not responded to our request for more information about the visit at the time of publication.

Two more patients who tested positive for coronavirus have died at Harrogate District Hospital.

The latest two deaths from Monday and Tuesday takes the hospital’s coronavirus deaths total up to 36 so far.

103 coronavirus patients were today confirmed to have died in the North East and Yorkshire region.

Hospitals in England reported that a further 665 patients have died, taking the country’s total up 16,272.

Patients were aged between 26 and 102 years old. 26 of the 665 patients, who were aged between 48 and 95 years old had no known underlying health conditions.

Their families have been informed.

Scotland reported 77 deaths, Wales recorded 15 but Northern Ireland has not yet released its numbers.

These figures do not account for deaths outside the hospital of people who were not tested but died of suspected coronavirus.

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust will release figures for the number of people who have been treated and discharged on a weekly basis. As of last Thursday, 51 people who had been admitted to the hospital have gone home.

A coronavirus testing centre will open in York and will be open to NHS staff in the Harrogate borough to help them get back to work.

The drive-through facility will open at Poppleton Park and Ride and will operate on an appointment-only basis for the NHS and other key workers.

It will be piloted for its first few days of operation.

The government has worked with universities, research institutes and companies to open 28 testing sites across the country.

Key workers who test negative for coronavirus can return to work as soon as possible and those who test positive are able to recover.

The testing sites will use PCR swabs to determine whether a person currently has the virus, with results ready in a matter of a few days.

The Government is also urgently working on setting up a home-testing service for critical key workers, supported by Amazon’s logistics network and other commercial partners.

Professor John Newton, National Coordinator for the UK Coronavirus Testing Strategy, said:

“This is a brilliant example of industries and businesses turning their resources to creating and rolling out mass testing at scale, which will help to deliver on our aim of carrying out 100,000 tests a day across the UK by the end of the month.”

Richard Flinton, Chair of North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum said:

“The centre serving North Yorkshire LRF area will be a hugely valuable asset in the region’s fight against the impact of Coronavirus. Making sure these front line staff can support their NHS partners with hospital discharges and residential care providers with managing admissions to care homes as well being able to continue to provide important safeguarding roles is essential. The work they do is saving lives and protecting the health services and the public.”

The Nightingale Yorkshire and the Humber was officially opened this afternoon, a facility the health secretary acknowledged “nobody would have ever wanted.”

Matt Hancock delivered a recorded message for the official opening of the 500-bed Harrogate Convention Centre turned field hospital and said he hopes it is never full.

“But the fact you have been able to make this happen in such a short period of time is a testament to your capabilities, determination and your teamwork. And the most important thing about NHS Nightingale in Harrogate is it is a message to everybody across Yorkshire, across the country, that whatever happens we will strain every sinew to make sure the NHS is there for anyone who needs it.”

One of seven of its kind around the country, NHS Nightingale Yorkshire and the Humber has been constructed in less than three weeks in a rapid feat of construction and engineering.

Veteran fundraiser Captain Tom Moore thanked the NHS for doing “such a magnificent job” as he opened the hospital as the guest of honour.

The audience at the Harrogate Convention Centre gave Captain Tom, who will turn 100 later this month, a standing ovation as they wished him a happy birthday.

Sitting with his daughter, Hannah Ingram-Moore, at his home in Bedfordshire, he said: “I’m absolutely in awe of what has happened.

“If you think all the kindness of the people in this country and throughout the world, who have given so much money to the fund to help our National Health Service, which you have got to agree is one of the best services that there is in the world. All the doctors and nurses in the NHS, they do a brilliant job in very difficult conditions and every day they’re putting themselves in harm’s way night and morning.”

Asked about his native Yorkshire, Captain Tom said: “I believe that there’s no place better than Yorkshire. There never has been and all the people who are missing coming to Yorkshire, they’re missing an awful lot of marvellous things and people, because the Yorkshire people have a sense of humour and kindness that not many people have, to the extent that we have.”

Health secretary Matt Hancock.

The audience were asked to stand and applaud as a banner wishing Captain Tom a happy 100th birthday was held up on the stage and the veteran’s number one version of You’ll Never Walk Alone with Michael Ball was played on the screen.

The extra capacity at the Harrogate hospital adds to other Nightingale hospitals being opened in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff and Glasgow.

Steve Russell Hospital Chief Executive.

Steve Russell, chief executive of the new hospital, called the project an “extraordinary achievement” and a “vital insurance policy which we hope will not be needed”.

He also encouraged people to keep following social distancing rules, and added: “Our doctors, nurses, therapists and other health and social care staff across Yorkshire and the Humber are working incredibly hard to make sure people get the care they need during what is the single greatest challenge in the history of the NHS, but they can’t do it alone.”

The transformation of the Harrogate Convention Centre into a 500-bed surge hospital has been a real feat of engineering and cooperation.

Work started on the NHS Nightingale Yorkshire and the Humber three weeks ago and required 13 miles of copper, 15,000m² of vinyl, 18,000m² of hygienic walls, 1,000 pieces of IT equipment, 100 miles of cables and more than seven million litres of oxygen.

It also needed more than 600 people working together from the NHS, BAM Construction and the Armed Forces – with more than 30,000 hours of labour.

Just a small fraction of the piping involved

When the work began the director of the HCC Paula Lorimer said she had to bring back security, cleaning and stewarding teams to help the construction team:

“It’s a vast site and very detailed engineering drawings have had to be got out. We had to teach the Royal Engineers their way around the building so they can put in the complex facilities that are needed.”

Harrogate District Hospital has reported that two more of its patients who tested positive for coronavirus have died.

The hospital has now reported 34 deaths in total since the start of the pandemic, with the two latest deaths from Sunday and Monday

It comes as a further 778 people have died in England’s hospitals, which is nearly double the number of deaths from yesterday and brings the country’s total up to 15,607.

Patients were aged between 22 and 103 years old.  24 of the 778 patients, who were aged between 49 and 91 years old, had no known underlying health conditions.

Scotland reported 70 deaths, Wales recorded 25 but Northern Ireland has not yet released its numbers.

Hospitals in the North East and Yorkshire reported 100 deaths today.

These figures do not account for deaths outside the hospital of people who were not tested but died of suspected coronavirus.

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust will release figures for the number of people who have been treated and discharged on a weekly basis. As of last Thursday, 51 people who had been admitted to the hospital have gone home.

Organisers of Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life in Harrogate have said that the event will now go ahead in October after coronavirus forced them to cancel in July.

It means that the Race for Life 5K, 10k, Pretty Muddy, Pretty Muddy Kids on The Stray will no longer take place on Sunday 12 July.

The Race for Life event has now been rescheduled for Sunday 11 October.

Participants who had already signed up for the Race for Life event in July can transfer their entry to the new October date and will be contacted directly by the charity. If a participant is unable to make the new date they can request a refund or donate the entry fee.

Lisa Millett, Cancer Research UK spokesperson for North Yorkshire, said:

“While our priority is ensuring that people affected by cancer get the support and information they need during unprecedented times, we’re having to work quickly to understand the impact the pandemic will have on Cancer Research UK’s fundraising.

“Since it began, Race for Life has raised over £890m for Cancer Research UK’s life-saving work. We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who has taken part and hope their support will continue throughout this time.”

Every day 83 people are diagnosed with cancer in Yorkshire but more people are surviving the disease now than ever before. Cancer survival in the UK has doubled since the early 1970s and Cancer Research UK’s work has been at the heart of that progress.

Many of the scientists and researchers funded by Cancer Research UK are currently being redeployed to help in the fight against COVID-19. By helping to beat coronavirus, the charity can lessen the impact that this virus is having on the care of cancer patients.

Harrogate’s Nightingale Hospital will officially open today with the help of guest of honour Captain Tom Moore.

The NHS Nightingale Yorkshire and the Humber has been set up at Harrogate Convention Centre in less than three weeks.

NHS and army staff have been working alongside BAM Construction “around the clock” to get the 500-bed facility up and running. Eight of the convention centre’s halls will be used to accommodate level three critical care beds for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

Tributes have been paid to those behind the project in two videos – one featuring a host of celebrities, the other people with links to the town.

Captain Tom Moore will be guest of honour at the official opening of Harrogate’s Nightingale Hospital.

Originally from Keighley, war veteran Captain Tom Moore – who hit headlines after walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday to raise more than £27m for NHS Charities Together – will be part of the ceremony via video link from his home.

The seven Nightingale hospitals around the country offer extra capacity on top of the 33,000 additional beds freed up across NHS hospitals – the equivalent of building 50 district general hospitals – and up to 8,000 beds made available through an unprecedented deal with the independent sector.

In a statement released on the eve of the opening, Harrogate’s Liberal Democrat spokesperson Judith Rogerson said: “I know everyone in Harrogate will be honoured to welcome Captain Tom Moore to town for the opening of our local Nightingale Hospital tomorrow. His outstanding achievement raising so much money for the NHS has been a real morale boost for the whole country at this difficult time.

“However, we can’t ignore the fact that significant fundraising is taking place to meet funding shortfalls in our much loved NHS. I don’t for a second want to detract from Captain Tom’s achievement. But as well as recognising his heroic efforts, politicians everywhere should be considering how we can all work together to secure a better future for health and care services, so that our key workers will always have the resources that they need to look after us.”

Cllr Pat Marsh, leader of the Lib Dems on Harrogate Borough Council, added: “Captain Tom Moore’s heroic, epic fundraising efforts have shown that we all do value the NHS. Just valuing is really not enough, we must take a lead from Captain Moore and raise money for this precious, irreplaceable service.

“These horrific times have shown what an irreplaceable service the NHS is, staffed by people who are fantastic. We do need to ensure that all frontline/key workers can do their job safely with the right tools for the job. Just as Captain Tom would not have been sent to the frontline without at least a helmet and a gun then our frontline staff have to be given the right tools in their fight against coronavirus.”

Harrogate District Hospital has not reported any new coronavirus-related deaths and the nationwide figure is the lowest it has been for a fortnight.

The hospital has so far reported 32 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Whereas, there have been 1,870 confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the North East and Yorkshire region.

It comes as Harrogate hospital announced that its first patient had been discharged after treatment for coronavirus on a ventilator.

Patient Karl then shared a video from home and used the opportunity to thank the staff at the hospital. He said that they saved his life and urged them to stay safe.

https://www.facebook.com/HarrogateDistrictNHS/videos/231823624719693/?__xts__[0]=68.ARBZG6TV3jYQ5jXumIB3zG14zYuzuSYVrnQ3XdK15Ci_YuUmTs3Sovi7BD5GDwROZLY1q176-GBESyWGJT_gh7gfBfZ4X2avSulD7xQKBn9dLLjU3NHzSCMJDCc-b-fFPShQ9Shl4d1-6G5bcavKeCMtT-aXK3T0as26I-ZQCUPGNRkmlNvgrgF69Z_B6fulLPo7L00Io9mTUCDIx9ndfOinG28IhnB2FZMRmUmaCfCyrkUemyYFtwjmZnpVx0RB7s9rCb–qKJ67kiDkph58lbANwwONzwDk835yGsgcMjDRc6rSCvExS_EQx50tGKVm1gP-I1mLUnGq1vX6nbMHmzNz8nYkQ5TVhocGTpE&__tn__=-R

Another 450 people have died in hospitals in the UK after contracting coronavirus. English hospitals made up 429 of those deaths but it is the lowest nationwide figure for two weeks.

Scotland reported 12 deaths and Wales reported nine deaths but Northern Ireland has not yet reported its deaths for today.

The UK has reported 16,552 deaths so far. These figures do not account for deaths outside the hospital of people who were not tested but died of suspected coronavirus.

The coronavirus crisis has forced local authorities to cancel the official Victory in Europe celebrations across the Harrogate district, but one local group has vowed to keep the festivities going.

Celebrations were due to start with a concert of more than 400 school children at the Harrogate Convention Centre followed by a military parade at Ripon Racecourse and service at Ripon Cathedral.

Councillor Jim Clark had invited two special guests Arek Hersh, a survivor of Auschwitz concentration camp, and Sheila Pantin, who was involved in the British liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at the concert.

The county council also organised street parties and other events showcasing memories of VE Day in several of its libraries.

All of those events have been cancelled but the council plans to hold concerts and street parties later this year.

Along with plenty of other events, the Oatlands Community Group (OCG) had planned to commemorate the 75th anniversary of VE Day at the local community centre.

Instead it now had another plan. Victoria Smith-Dunn, the chair of OCG said:

“On Friday 8 May, we will be delivering additional packages containing afternoon tea for one as well as a postcard reproduction of a wartime scene drawn by local schoolboy Will Robinson, with the lyrics to Vera Lynn’s ‘We’ll Meet Again’ on the back. While we can only cover the Oatlands area, we would be delighted if other areas of Harrogate wanted to take up our idea.”

Since the beginning of the lockdown, OCG and its volunteers have been delivering care packages to elderly and vulnerable residents in the Oatlands area.

To help celebrate virtually the group has prepared an Activity Pack containing information, bunting, colouring-in sheets and other ideas for engaging children in the day.

The pack can be downloaded from the social enterprise, myLifePool’s website for free or can be obtained by post at a cost of £1.75.