Covid: Indian variant detected in Cumbria - what we know so far
Political Correspondent Tom Sheldrick has the story.
The Indian variant of Covid-19 has been detected in Cumbria, the public health director has confirmed.
Cases of the strain have almost trebled nationally in the past week, Public Health England figures showed.
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What do we know so far?
Colin Cox said that less than ten people have tested positive for the strain in the last week in the county. Further details have not yet been released.
He said: "A small number of cases of the Indian variant of Coronavirus have been confirmed in Cumbria today.
"The current number of confirmed positive cases is fewer than 10. At present there is no change to our advice but we are monitoring the situation closely.”
The news comes on the same day further lockdown restriction easing came into place.
Mr Cox told ITV Border: "The Indian variant is a challenging one for people to come to grips with, because it does seem to be spreading quite quickly. We think it is at least as transmissible as the Kent variant, that's been the dominant one up til now.
"It's a bit difficult to know at the moment whether we are on the cusp of something else starting in Cumbria, or whether this is just a new variant that will take over from the Kent strain."
It comes as Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned the growing number of cases across the UK could be the "biggest risk" to lockdown easing on June 21.
More information about the Indian variant in Cumbria, including the location of the cases, are expected to be released later today.
The Director of Public Health has said the current response is to identify the cases to stop further infection.
He said: "That's the mainstay of the response to all of these cases. Clearly if it starts to look like there is an outbreak in a particular area, which we haven't seen properly yet, there are other things that can be, in terms of advising people to take additional measures in those areas, if that's what's required."
Will Cumbria need tougher restrictions?
As infection rates of the new strain are still low, and overall coronavirus rates are low, easing of restrictions are still going ahead, Mr Cox said.
He said: "We're seeing five or six cases a day at most, most days, so it still feels really important that we do start to recover our economy, and recover a degree of normality in society, because that's also really important for public health.
"So as things stand, I'm still very comfortable that we are easing the lockdown arrangements slowly and carefully. I wouldn't want us to take another step immediately, but we're not going to, I do have another 5 weeks before the next step."
More than 300,000 people across Cumbria have no been vaccinated, with more than half of those receiving a second dose.
More details to follow.