Covid-19: Cumbria stays in tier 2 despite 'rapidly changing' situation

People aged 45-59 account for the greatest number of new cases in Cumbria, according to data

Cumbria will remain in tier two despite the situation across the county "changing very rapidly", with weekly data showing a 52% rise in cases.

Figures for the week ending 18 December show 741 new cases across the area, compared to 487 the previous week.

It comes as large parts of England have been told they will move into tighter restrictions from Boxing Day.

Cumbria's director of public health, Colin Cox, said the data showed cases were "clearly rising again".

Meanwhile hospital bosses have urged people to only go to A&E if their condition is "life threatening".

The plea was made by North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Trust, which said hospitals had come under increased pressured over the last few days.

Dr Rod Harpin, medical director, warned that if cases continued to rise then "some very difficult decisions" would have to made to make sure there was space and staff to treat patients.

Visiting has also been suspended across all of its sites, except for exceptional cases.

New variant identified

Carlisle overtook South Lakeland with the greatest amount of cases, with the biggest proportional increase in Eden, according to the county council's weekly Covid situation report.

"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," Mr Cox said.

The report said there were still "a number of outbreaks and incidents" across all education settings.

The 45-59 age group accounted for the greatest number of new cases in Cumbria, with increases in cases in all age groups over the last week. Only Barrow has seen cases dropping.

Mr Cox added: "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."

On Tuesday, the county council said the new variant had been identified in a small number of cases,.

The number of Covid-related deaths in the county decreased, the report said.