CUMBRIA’S director of public health, Colin Cox, says the county is ready and able to deal with any coronavirus cases.

He was speaking to the News & Star in the wake of the rise in cases in northern Italy.

“There is a lot of work that goes on to prepare for things like this,” explained Mr Cox.

“We have got plans that have been in place for a long time for dealing with things like a flu pandemic. We’ve got some work that has already been done, so we are using that.

“Although this obviously isn’t flu, we are using that sort of planning to prepare for what might happen in the case of coronavirus arriving in Cumbria.

“There is a lot of work that goes on in different organisations, particularly at the council and the NHS to make sure we are prepared for dealing with cases, working through how we would respond in situations where lots of people were off work for example – making sure we can still provide services.

“Planning how we would communicate about it, planning for things like isolation and how the NHS would cope with those sorts of things. There is a lot of work to do to prepare for the eventuality of any major disease.”

Mr Cox added: “A number of people have been tested across the county but none have tested positive.

“I am surprised there have not been more cases in the UK since we got to nine. The number in China is starting to come down. The epidemic curve is starting to fall, which is positive, but we are seeing these other outbreaks popping up independently in places like northern Italy, apparently Iran and a couple of other places, and that is a cause for concern.”