A CARLISLE area care home has become a Covid-19 'hotspot' after more than 40 residents tested positive for the virus along with nearly 30 of the staff who were looking after them.

Public health chiefs are currently supporting the home. There has been one fatality.

The home's high infection rate was revealed as Cumbria County Council confirmed that there are now thought to have been 122 Covid-19 fatalities in Cumbria's care and residential homes.

The number of confirmed care home cases in the county is 239, with a further 59 suspected.

Public health officials have stressed that there is no suggestion that staff or managers at the privately run Carlisle area home have in any way mismanaged the situation.

But the scale of its infection drives home the stark reality that coronavirus continues to be a threat that everybody must guard against, said Cumbria's Director of Public Health Colin Cox.

He said falling death rates at the county's hospitals continue to show that social distancing is working.

But in many of Cumbria's 112 care homes, staff are battling hard against some fast-moving outbreaks of the virus.

The Carlisle area home has been among a handful in which all staff and residents had been tested, said Mr Cox, and this fact is part of the explanation for why the infection rate there has been shown to be so high.

That increased rate of testing will continue to be rolled out at other homes, he said.

"Managing infections in a care home environment is incredibly difficult," he said. "We know that this virus can spread through contact with people who have no symptoms.

"So people don't know that they have the infection.

"I know that the staff involved [at the Carlisle home] are working tirelessly to manage this whole situation. They're all doing an incredibly difficult job in difficult circumstances and they deserve our support.

"There's no suggestion at all of mismanagement."

Mr Cox said many of those who tested positive at the Carlisle home have not displayed any symptoms. The home is now being supported with infection control advice, personal protective equipment and extra staff to take over the work of the 29 staff confirmed as having the virus. This is being coordinated by Cumbria County Council as part of its Resilience Forum work with key partner agencies.

The News & Star has been told that more than half the residents - some 44 - have tested positive.

The latest statistics show that there are currently 18 care homes in Cumbria where there are confirmed coronavirus outbreaks. Since April 1, there have been 40 confirmed Covid-19 deaths in care home, and a further 82 suspected deaths.

Some 161 residents have died in that same period form non-Covid-19 causes.

Commenting on the Carlisle care home outbreak, Mr Cox said: "We absolutely have not beaten this virus.

"It's still very much a danger; and it's still circulating. There's a very significant risk that if people think they can get away with coming out of lockdown too early, then we could get a second wave.

"It's distinctly worrying."

Meanwhile, experts expect the number of confirmed care home cases to continue rising as more testing is done.

Earlier this week, Mr Cox warned of signs that more people were willing to push the limits of the lockdown. Dozens in Cumbria were fined at the weekend for non-essential travel.

Yesterday, the number of Covid-19 hospital deaths reported by NHS trusts which run hospitals in Cumbria was 276.

Of those, 125 were reported by North Cumbria Integrated Care Foundation Trust, which manages The Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle and Whitehaven's West Cumberland Hospital. At University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Foundation Trust the death toll was 151.

The Office for National Statistics yesterday said the UK Covid-19 death toll is now the highest in Europe, with 32,313 deaths reported.