HEALTH chiefs are still working hard to expand the county’s capacity to offer ‘critical care’ to the most seriously ill Covid-19 patients as case numbers continue rising, says Cumbria’s Public Health Director Colin Cox.

The number of confirmed cases in Cumbria was yesterday 340, while there are now about 60 intensive care beds available across the county.

There is currently no agreed figure for the number of people who have died as a result of Covid-19 since the first cases were confirmed earlier this month.

Mr Cox said: “There has been a lot of work going on but in the last week to 10 days we have doubled the county’s critical care capacity to something in the region of 30 beds in the north and 30 in the south of Cumbria.

“But it’s not just about beds; it’s about having the staff to work with those patients.

“That has been about reallocating staff; and we have seen some surgical units no longer doing what they were doing.”

Mr Cox said that the evidence of the weekend was that people are now finally heeding the government’s ‘social distancing saves lives’ message.

“The Lake District was very quiet over the weekend,” he said.

Mr Cox added that some experts believe that the epidemic in Cumbria may reach its peak in two or three weeks, with infection rates continuing to climb rapidly and then hopefully falling rapidly as containment measures have an effect. Critics say the true scale of the UK’s outbreak has been hidden by a lack of testing.