Senior police officer expresses frustration at lockdown breakers driving into the Dales 'to see the snow'

The coast has also been a hotspot for lockdown-breaking since officers began handing out fines again this month as restrictions were tightened.

More than 100 fines were issued in the first week of lockdown - as the NHS warned that capacity in North Yorkshire's hospitals is at critical levels and has exceeded the spring wave of Covid-19 cases.

Superintendent Mike Walker said that a minority were putting 'birthday parties' above following the guidance.

He said at the weekend officers in Craven were 'run off their feet' turning people away from Dales beauty spots as people travelled in to see the snow.

Supt Walker said: “This is not just down to the police, this is a matter of personal responsibility and making sure that your decisions and actions do not put others at risk.”

He added that he understood the public’s need for clarity around the definition of what is classed as local exercise, but that his message was clear.

He said: “It is not reasonable or essential to travel lengthy distances to take daily exercise when it can be taken from the doorstep.

“We do not expect people to be travelling multiple miles in a car to take their exercise in North Yorkshire but unfortunately, as we saw at the weekend, compliance was poor and people were travelling substantial distances just to take daily exercise.

“I think we can sometimes get lost in the detail of what can and cannot do and we lose focus on the real reason we are being asked to limit our movement and why the police are enforcing this legislation. It is to stop people from dying from this virus.”

In total, 107 fines have been issued by North Yorkshire Police since lockdown began on Wednesday. In the first week of April’s restrictions 46 fines were handed out.

Supt Walker said that 49 of the fines had been handed out in the Scarborough borough, with 22 in York and 19 in Craven.

Fifty-eight of the fines were for being away from home without a valid reason and 49 for indoor gatherings.

Fifty of the fines were issued to people from outside North Yorkshire, with 33 given to people from West Yorkshire who had travelled into the county.

The number of Covid 19 patients in North Yorkshire’s hospitals has surpassed the peak of the first wave as residents were warned to avoid going to A&E if possible due to the “unprecedented” demand on staff.

Health chiefs made the plea after the number of patients in beds with Covid almost doubled in just seven days.

As of yesterday, 387 coronavirus patients were in the county’s hospitals, an increase of 116 on the previous week and 85 above the peak of the first wave in April.

Amanda Bloor from NHS North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group told a meeting of the North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum today that close to 500 staff were also off work due to either having Covid or having to isolate.

The number of staff off work from hospitals linked to the virus has increased by 20 per cent in the last week.

Mrs Bloor told the meeting that the number of patients with Covid “really are quite stark now”.

She said: “We are in a dangerous situation. The number of Covid positive patients in our hospitals is well above the first wave, this is a place we did not want to be and that number is continuing to rise and the trend is upwards.

“The average daily increase is around 17 patients. What we also know is that the new strain of Covid is more transmissible than the previous strain.

“It goes without saying that our hospitals are extremely busy responding to that demand.”

The number of Covid patients in Harrogate Hospital has doubled in the last week, while in York it has increased by 50 to 121, 40 more than in April’s peak.

Scarborough Hospital currently has 35 Covid patients in its beds.

Mrs Bloor said the rise in cases was forcing hospitals to redeploy staff from other departments to care for patients, in particular staff from operating theatres and high dependency wards who can provide oxygen or ventilation treatments.

She added: “I’ve spoken to hospital colleagues across North Yorkshire and York and they have a really, really simple message and that is ‘stay at home’.

“They are seeing an unprecedented level of demand and it is imperative that everyone now follows the Government guidance.

“They are also reporting to me that they are still seeing patients attending A&E so what we would say is please only attend accident and emergency departments in the event of a life-threatening or limb-threatening emergency.

“Please use NHS 111 in the first instance. I can’t stress how much the NHS is now relying on everyone to make really sensible choices and to follow the guidance to the letter.”

A total of 841 people from North Yorkshire have now died from Covid since the start of the pandemic, of those 276 have been since September with 33 deaths in the last week alone.