POSITIVE cases of Covid-19 in Barrow rose by more than 300 per cent in the first week of January.

Data from Public Health England revealed that there was a sharp rise in cases in Barrow at the start of the month.

On New Year's Day there were 25 positive Covid-19 cases recorded in Barrow, followed by 52 confirmed cases on January 2 and a further 52 the next day.

On Monday January 4, however, cases shot up to 101 - representing a 304 per cent rise in comparison to the start of the month.

However, newly released figures reveal that case numbers in Barrow have been decreasing over the past week.

On Tuesday January 5, the figures dropped drastically to 65 positive cases, followed by 57 cases last Wednesday, 51 on Thursday and 35 on Friday.

Between January 4 and January 11, 385 people tested positive in Barrow for coronavirus.

The latest data plotted on a map by Public Health England showed the Roose and Ormsgill and Hindpool areas of Barrow had seven-day rolling Covid infection rates far exceeding anywhere else.

The statistics take in the number of cases recorded in the week up to January 7.

Walney Island South and Barrow Island recorded 17 new cases in a week which gave the area a rolling rate of 274.6, whilst Walney Island North had 43 new cases in a week which had a rolling rate of 637.9.

A total of 75 new positive cases were recorded in Roose - the highest in Barrow - giving the area a rolling rate of 983.1 and a 275 per cent rise in case numbers.

Barrow central had 35 new cases, with a rolling rate of 530.9.

Abbotsmead and Salthouse recorded 40 people with coronavirus in the week, which had a rolling rate of 533.3.

This was followed by Hawcoat and Furness Abbey which had 46 positive cases of Covid-19, giving it a rolling rate of 610.9.

The area of Parkside recorded 52 new cases which gave a weekly rate of 788.8.

And finally Ormsgill and Hindpool had 54 new positive cases of Covid-19 in a week, which had a rolling rate of 832.4.

Colin Cox, Cumbria's director of public health, is urging people to follow the lockdown rules to decrease case numbers and hospital admissions.

He said: "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.

"This is still a lockdown and people need to follow the lockdown regulations."