Covid: Cumbria health boss nervous as free testing stops

Free Covid-19 testing sites are due to close by the end of March

Cumbria's public health boss says closing all free Covid test sites by the end of March makes him "a bit nervous".

The government will shut all free testing sites and stop providing free lateral flow tests within weeks in the strategy of living with the virus.

Colin Cox said although guidance had changed he warned people to continue exercising caution.

It is two years since the first case of Covid-19 was confirmed in Cumbria.

He said: "I do have concerns, it's inevitable that we were going to move to this stage, but with less access to testing I do feel a bit nervous".

Mr Cox said people should continue to wash their hands regularly, cover their mouths when coughing and wear a mask in crowded spaces.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) surveillance survey will continue to offer information on the spread of the virus, carrying out random polls of people asked to carry out a test.

Routine testing will also continue in the health service and in care settings.

Mr Cox says he has concerns about people no longer doing routine testing

But Mr Cox said: "Even already with testing available there is no doubt the number of people doing tests is dropping off and we're getting a much less accurate picture of the spread of the virus."

Current figures show the county has a reported level of 250 cases of Covid per 100,000 population, which Mr Cox described as "relatively high".

'Most astonishing time'

Although hospital admissions are coming down significantly in the south of the county, Mr Cox says there is "a fairly high level" of people in hospital with Covid in north Cumbria.

But he added the number of people dying had fallen.

Mr Cox described the past two years in his role as Cumbria's director of public health as "intensive, the busiest and the most astonishing time".

"Nearly 1,800 people have died in the county as well, so it's been a very sobering time as well," he added.