Health authorities "keeping very close eye" on Covid-19 cases in Carlisle
Cumbria's Director of Public Health, Colin Cox, spoke to political reporter Tom Sheldrick.
Health authorities in Cumbria say they are "keeping a very close eye" on a rising number of coronavirus cases in Carlisle.
The city has been featured on a list of the twenty areas across the UK most likely to need a local lockdown.
In the week ending July 3, there were 18 new cases per 100,000 residents in Carlisle. For comparison, the rate of new cases in England in the same week was 6 new cases per 100,000 residents.
Cumbria County Council said the data showed that from July 1 to July 7, there were 21 positive coronavirus cases in Carlisle and 0 further positive cases across the rest of the county.
ITV Border has spoken to Cumbria's Public Health director, Colin Cox, who called the spike a 'bit worrying'. He said: "It's not a lot of cases at the moment, but any form of rise is a bit of a concern for us, so we're keeping a very close eye on it and trying to manage the situation as effectively as we can."
The council has stressed the rate of infection is still “significantly below the rate which prompted local lockdown measures in Leicester."
Mr Cox said: "The number of cases that we're seeing in Carlisle is still quite low, in the region of 20 to 25 a week, but for comparison a couple of weeks ago that's what we were seeing in the whole of Cumbria.
"It's not quite at the point where we're talking about a local lockdown, but we do need people to be very alert to this and to make sure they're following all the social distancing guidelines."
An investigation is underway to establish the cause of the spike, said Mr Cox, with some connected to a 'small outbreak' in the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle. He said: "Some of the cases are related to that, and that's being very strongly and actively managed at the moment.
"But it's also possible that it's related to change in lockdown rules and increase in social contact people have contributed to this, in one way or another."
A video circulating on social media over the weekend has shown a number of people not social distancing outside of a bar.
When asked about the footage, Mr Cox said: "It didn't look as though people at that bar were taking things very seriously, it wasn't a good sight from my point of view.
"But certainly I know that we've been having conversations with hospitality venues, and that venue in particular.
"My colleagues in environmental health from Carlisle City Council have been having some conversations with those venues to make sure they do start to operate in a way that is more Covid-secure."
The bar, Bomb Shelter, released a statement on Facebook on Saturday. It reads: "A short video of the outside of our premises, is not an accurate portrayal of the strict guidelines that are in place within our venue.
"What appeared to take place at the door, was unfortunately a lack of social distancing, one that we had risk assed before re-opening.
"There are three control points on our entry system, and once the security team are no longer able to control the crowd at the front door, we fall back to our last resort of shutting the front doors to protect those inside, ourselves and our staff. This part was not captured on the video, so does not truly reflect the events as they unfolded.
"We have worked closely with all authorities in the run up to reopening, we have complied with all guidelines, adapting our venue to a more pub style environment. I can assure the public that the licensing department, the Police and EHO are very familiar with the struggles that pubs/bars are facing in Carlisle.
"This is unprecedented times, our local businesses are having to adapt their entire livelihoods to fit within what is for now, the new normal."