Latest figures show that 41 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded in Cumbria in the week ending May 14, but the county’s director of public health said he was not overly concerned.
Only 21 cases were recorded the previous week, but the infection rate remains well below the national and regional averages.
Colin Cox, Cumbria’s director of public health, said: “Infections have doubled in the last week and that obviously causes us to stop and think, but at this stage we are not overly concerned.
“Our infection rate remains very low and we are not seeing any evidence in more recent provisional data that we are experiencing a continued increase.
“There has been a lot of interest in the new variant of the COVID virus that is responsible for ongoing outbreaks elsewhere in the north west and we have seen a small number of cases here in Cumbria, but these have been effectively isolated so far.
“I still want to stress that while we have nearly 30 per cent of our population unvaccinated we need to take care – hands, face, space, fresh air really do make a difference – although I appreciate the wet and cold May we are having is making the fresh air part more of a challenge!”
Most recent data published on 20 May shows 73 per cent of the adult Cumbrian population have now received their first vaccine dose.
