Warning given after health boss Colin Cox reveals how Cumbrian hospitals are struggling to cope

Colin Cox, Cumbria's director of public health, said that the situation in the hospitals in Cumbria is that they are stretched to capacity at the moment, which is why Morecambe Bay Trust they had to cancel non-urgent operations last week at Furness General Hospital.

“The position at hospitals is quite stretched in the north and the south of the county, but particularly in the north at the moment," he said.

“It is not quite so pressured in the south, but that is possibly because it is compared to the north’s hospitals.

“I don’t think any stricter measures are likely to be brought in locally, that would be a national thing, but in terms of what they could be, there are some parts of the economy that are open now that were closed during the first lockdown, so it may be that they are shut.

PUBLIC HEALTH BOSS: Cumbria's Colin Cox

“People need to follow the lockdown that we have at the moment, it is utterly critical to try and get these numbers down and that people stay at home, I cannot stress that enough. This is still a lockdown and people need to follow the lockdown regulations."

Boris Johnson has warned that tougher lockdown measures may be needed as he announced that around 2.4 million vaccines for Covid-19 have now been put in people's arms.

The Prime Minister stressed "now is the moment for maximum vigilance" amid increasing calls for tougher lockdown restrictions as case rates soar in several parts of the country.

The Prime Minister said: "We're going to keep the rules under constant review.

"Where we have to tighten them, we will.

"We have rules in place already which, if they are properly followed, we believe can make a huge, huge difference."

Boris Johnson

Barrow's MP Simon Fell said that the current measures are working though as cases are levelling off in Cumbria.

"I think that the levelling off of COVID rates in the south of the county suggest that the current measures are working," Mr Fell said.

PICTURED: Simon Fell

Yesterday mass vaccination centres opened to deliver thousands of jabs to city dwellers, but Cumbrians are not in the radius to be part of the vaccination centre programme in Manchester or Newcastle (the closest mass vaccination centres).

When asked whether Cumbria could get a mass vaccination centre, Colin Cox said: “It is not about the higher cases; it is about what is the best way of delivering vaccines for people in Cumbria. I think it is important to have the mass vaccination centres in urban areas here it kind of makes sense as there are large populations with good transport links.

“Somewhere like Cumbria it is makes more sense to have a more dispersed model.

“I may well be that when we get into the more general population with vaccinations that something like a mass vaccination programme would be more appropriate."

Furness General Hospital