Covid: Cox urges caution despite falling Cumbrian death rate

There were 63 deaths in Cumbria in the week ending on 12 February, where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

That shows a significant fall from 96 deaths during the previous week, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics.

The highest figure was 99, in the week between 16 and 22 January.

Cumbria's director of public health, Colin Cox, said a fortnight ago that he was confident that the county had passed the peak of coronavirus deaths - and these official figures suggest that is correct.

Across England and Wales, there were 5,691 coronavirus-related deaths in the week ending on 12 February, a decrease of 1,629 from the previous week.

Today, Mr Cox was pleased with the news but added that the area wasn't out of the woods yet.