New Covid-19 infections down by 35 per cent in a week as people are urged not to become complacent.

New infections continued to fall in Cumbria in the week ending February 5, with new hospital admissions also falling.

North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust - which runs the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle and Whitehaven's West Cumberland Hospital - said the number of patients being cared for in hospital "remain high".

Intensive care units are still exceptionally busy. This continues to impact on hospitals’ ability to deliver routine care. It will take some time for the reduction in community cases to reduce the pressure in hospitals.

Positively, data now indicates that Cumbria has passed the peak for Covid-19 deaths in this latest wave.

Colin Cox, Cumbria’s Director of Public Health, said: “The continued drop is good news and reflects the efforts people have been making to stick to the lockdown rules.

"But we need to put the numbers in context, last year Leicester went into full lockdown when there were 50 cases per 100 thousand; our infection rate is still three to four times that.

“So, any notions that we can start to take it easy are really wide of the mark, now is the time we need stay the course and drive infections right down. Only then can we be confident about getting back to normal.

"At the current rate of decline that isn’t too far away, but we’ll only get there if people keep going and stick to the rules.”

This week’s report shows:

  • There were 866 new cases in Cumbria (a decrease of 466, -35 per cent, from 1,332 cases in the previous week)
  • Allerdale overtook Carlisle in having the greatest number of new cases (+265 new cases)
  • Allerdale also overtook Carlisle in having the highest rate of new cases (271 new cases per 100k population)
  • Rates in Allerdale and Barrow were above the national average rate (England = 202 new cases per 100k population)
  • New cases decreased from the previous week in all Cumbrian districts, with the biggest proportional decrease in Carlisle (-59 per cent)
  • However, Allerdale had the smallest proportional decrease of all Cumbrian districts for the second week in a row (-15 per cent).

Dr Rod Harpin, Medical Director at the North Cumbria NHS Trust said, “We are still caring for large numbers of patients in our hospitals with coronavirus, similar to the numbers we saw in the peak of the first wave.

"This is largely due to the length of time that it takes for the virus to run its course, and the fact that in this wave patients that do require hospital care tend to be sicker. Our intensive care units are still exceptionally busy.

“We have continued to run urgent and emergency services and we are starting to make plans for some routine services to resume next month. However, our ability to do this depends on how quickly the number of patients with covid reduces. We all have a part to play in that reduction of community spread by following the advice during lockdown.”

The NHS is still here for you, but choose the service most appropriate for your needs, the trust said.

The trust has strict infection prevention measures in place in the hospital, wear a mask or face covering, available at the main entrances if you do not have one, use hand sanitisers on entry and exit, stick to the marked one way systems and stay two metres away from others.