The weekly Cumbria COVID-19 situation report for week ending 18 December has been published at www.cumbria.gov.uk/stopthespread.
The report shows:
Colin Cox, Cumbria’s Director of Public Health, said:
“The situation is now changing very rapidly, but this data up to the end of last week shows cases very clearly rising again in the county and we know that increase is continuing through this week. Only Barrow has seen cases dropping.
“We suspect that some of this increase is being driven by the new, more infectious, variant of the COVID-19 virus. There’s no evidence that it’s more dangerous, but it does infect many more people and that’s a real worry, both for individuals and for our hospitals which are already dealing with high numbers of covid patients.
“The best way of keeping this in check hasn’t changed: wash your hands regularly, wear a face covering in enclosed spaces, give people space and avoid crowds - especially over Christmas. If we don’t act there is a significant risk of a large third wave in January bringing further lockdowns and putting health services under a huge amount of pressure”.