Coronavirus in Cumbria: Health chief calls for mask wearing

Colin Cox says coronavirus is continuing to put pressure on the NHS locally

The number of coronavirus infections in Cumbria could remain fairly high for some time, the county's director of public health has warned.

Colin Cox said that while figures seemed to have peaked, they were "still bouncing around".

He wants the government to re-introduce the restrictions of Plan B, such as mandatory mask wearing in public.

The government has said the data does not "currently suggest immediately moving to Plan B".

Copeland had the highest number of cases in the county with 793 per 100,000 people last week, and Barrow came second at 670. Both were a rise on the previous week.

Mr Cox said: "The numbers look as though they've peaked but what they are really doing is bouncing around quite a bit - they start dropping off then they start to rise again.

"It's still going to remain fairly high for some time again, I think."

'Burden on NHS'

He told BBC Radio Cumbria: "It seems to me we've been at a level of infection for quite some time that has been much higher than we would have accepted before, and we're accepting a higher rate of infection because it is not translating into a massive rate of hospitalisations and deaths.

"However, we've got more than 60 people currently in hospital with Covid, that number is nowhere near where it was in January but it still adds very substantially to the burden on the NHS.

"There are points in the government's Plan B, things like face masks in public places which in Cumbria we've been trying to encourage people to do anyway, we really haven't stopped that."

Responding to calls from Labour to move to Plan B, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: "We're monitoring everything, but at the moment the data does not suggest that we should be immediately moving to Plan B, but of course we will keep an eye on that and the plans are ready."