The Covid-19 situation in Carlisle has been described as "rapidly deteriorating" by the city's council leader, as he strongly urged caution in light of the "grim" reality facing the city.

John Mallinson, leader of Carlisle City Council, addressed fellow council members regarding the current Covid situtation in Carlisle on Tuesday evening, at the first full council meeting of the year.

"The Covid situation is rapidly deteriorating in Carlisle, as well as elsewhere," Mr Mallinson said.

"It's really grim.

"I would encourage everybody to take as much care as they possibly can."

Mr Mallinson added that all city council staff who can work from home are now once again doing so.

"It's a really grim situation, and we're grateful for our staff for keeping the show going."

The city's mayor, councillor Marilyn Bowman, echoed Mr Mallinson's stark warning on the current Covid situation.

"This is a dreadful virus," she said.

"We need to do all we can to make sure that it doesn't spread any further, and actually see some reductions in the dreadful numbers that we've seen of people who are ill, and sadly passing on."

Cumbria's director of public health, Colin Cox, has for the past several days been warning that the seven-day rate of Covid-19 infections in the city has exceeded 1,000 cases per 100,000 people, as he has sought to also impress on residents in the city and elsewhere the seriousness of the situation.

Figures on rates of Covid infections published by the Government, which are slightly less up-to-date than those accessible to Mr Cox, demonstrate that Carlisle had, as of last Friday, one of the highest infection rates in the country.

The city's infection rate was higher than a number of London boroughs, including Ealing, Southwark and Lambeth.

Mr Cox earlier this week explained that the rise in cases in Carlisle was not being driven by an outbreak in one particular location. Rather, he explained there have in recent weeks been outbreaks in many locations, including schools and workplaces.

"At the moment, it's pretty much everywhere," he said.

"Obviously, schools have been off for the last fortnight. But there were outbreaks before then," he said.

"We've had complex outbreaks in workplaces, where again despite having good Covid controls in place, we've seen a very high proportion of people affected.

"All of those things are pointing to a very different pattern of transmission."

Mr Cox explained that this different pattern of transmission to the first wave of the virus pointed to it being driven by the new variant of Covid-19.

This is continuing to place great pressures on north Cumbria's hospitals, Mr Cox stressed. "It's very pressured indeed," he said.

"Let's be clear - the NHS is still there for people," he added, underlining that patients should continue to attend hospital appointments, and visit accident and emergency in life-threatening situations.

"But it's under a lot of pressure. It's making use of neighbouring areas to support them with that pressure at the moment.

"It's a very, very challenging situation."