Covid-19 cases increase in Carlisle with small spike of cases in the Eden area
The latest Covid-19 report for Cumbria shows a "continuing concerning" increase in cases in Carlisle and a new small spike of cases in the Eden area.
The increase in Eden follows a long period of very low case numbers in the district.
The total number of positive cases in both areas remains below other areas of concern in the North West. However, the rates of infection per 100,000 population are significantly higher than the overall North West and England averages - which Cumbria's Director of Public Health says is "concerning".
Other districts in the county continue to experience very low levels of new infections.
Cumbria County Council says that the local multi-agency Health Protection Board is closely monitoring the situation and is proactively contact tracing known cases.
Based on information provided by confirmed cases, a general public call was issued for people to get tested who had visited some Carlisle pubs earlier this month.
As a result there has been a large increase in the number of people being tested and the data from this testing will become available over the coming days.
Data suggests that the situation in Eden is related to a small number of specific events but work continues to understand and contain the outbreak.
Colin Cox, Cumbria’s Director of Public Health, said:
“The outbreaks we’re seeing in Carlisle and Eden are putting these areas in the national spotlight, but the situation is significantly different to what is going in other parts of the region and appear to be connected to social events and the night time economy.
"What is of concern is the fact that infection numbers are increasing, even though the total number of cases remains comparatively low. "
He also made the following comment on pubs:
“Initially this week we took a blanket approach to publically identifying pubs and venues which had been visited by people who were likely to have been infectious. This was no reflection on those venues and we thank them for their cooperation.
“In future, we will only name venues when we do not have sufficient confidence in the contact tracing information that has been collected and believe that a general public message is necessary to ensure all possible contacts are made aware."