The South African variant of coronavirus has been found in North Yorkshire, public health leaders revealed today.

Louise Wallace, director of public health in North Yorkshire, said “a small number” of cases had been identified in the Scarborough area and were linked to international travel.

Ms Wallace added there was “not considered to be any community risk” with the cases.

She told a press briefing of North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, which co-ordinates the county’s response to the pandemic:

“These cases are not linked to community transmission as is the position in high profile news coverage we will all be aware of nationally.”

She added those affected were isolating and the county council was “not aware” of any cases of the strain in the community in the Harrogate district or other districts in North Yorkshire.

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The South African mutation of coronavirus is feared to be more resistant to vaccinations.

The government ordered surge testing on Monday in eight areas across the country where clusters of the variant were found.

Door-to-door testing was deployed in an effort to test 80,000 people in areas ranging from Bristol to Liverpool.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the House of Commons yesterday it was “critical” people in those areas stay at home while testing is carried out.

However, North Yorkshire public health bosses said today surge or extra testing in the county would not be necessary at this time.

They added that the county and City of York were “in a strong position” in terms of swab tests that could be deployed at short notice if necessary.

Ms Wallace also told the briefing the seven-day rate across North Yorkshire could “take some time” to come down.

Currently, the rate in the Harrogate district is 181 cases per 100,000 people and the county-wide rate is 164.

Ms Wallace said infections had reduced since the third lockdown began but added:

“It is going to time to get that infection rate to decline. Of course we want it to decline and we do not want it to plateau.

“But it is going to take time and the worst case would be if it started to increase.

“As always, I just really want to urge everyone to continue to play their part to reduce the spread of the virus. It is very slow in terms of the infection rate of coming down and we need to keep making that happen.”