CORONAVIRUS numbers in Cumbria have increased it has been confirmed.
People have been urged to remain calm after it was confirmed on Saturday by Public Health England that five people in the county tested positive for the virus - three of the people are from Carlisle.
A spokeswoman for Cumbria County Council said: “The director of Public Health England has now confirmed three new cases of coronavirus in Cumbria. 
“One is in Carlisle and two are in South Lakeland. 
“These new cases are unlinked to the two previous cases that were confirmed earlier this week. 
“These are still exceptionally low numbers for Cumbria, with a low level of risk to the public. 
“We are still asking the public to remain diligent with their own personal hygiene, such as regular hand washing, as an effective way to reduce the risk of spreading infection.”
Public Health England stated that as of 9am yesterday, 23,513 people have been tested for the virus in the UK, of these people 23,240 were confirmed negative.
273 were confirmed at positive.
Two patients in the UK who tested positive for COVID-19 have died. 
A Carlisle-based academic who has a background in nursing, Dr John Campbell, explained: “What initially happens when an pandemic comes to an area is you get individual cases, sometimes they can be contained and sometimes they can’t.
“Eventually when the epidemic or the pandemic is more established in a particular area you start getting community spread.
“This means it starts getting spread between individuals, some may not know they are ill.
“The picture in Cumbria at the moment is that we are seeing individual cases and given what we have seen in other parts of the country that is what we would expect.
“So it’s an indication that the infection is spreading. It’s worrying because we now have to really be looking out for clusters in Carlisle.”
Elsewhere, the Health Secretary has insisted the Government will do “everything in its power” to delay and mitigate the coronavirus threat as the number of infected people in the UK topped 200.
Matt Hancock said ministers would do “all we can” to contain the Covid-19 outbreak, and he set out plans contained in emergency legislation to deal with the impact of the virus.
The Bill, which is likely to go through Parliament by the end of the month, is expected to include measures to allow some court proceedings to be conducted via telephone or video. And volunteers will be given additional employment safeguards, allowing them to leave their main jobs and temporarily help health and social systems in the event of a widespread pandemic.