By Rachael Grealish

New COVID-19 cases in Cumbria dropped below 100 for the first time since September, the latest ONS figures show.

It was published today, Thursday April 8, as of week ending Friday April 2 there was 81 new COVID-19 cases across Cumbria.

This is a 40 percent drop from the 134 cases the previous week.

The last time case were below 100 was mid-September in 2020.

For the seventh week in a row the borough of Allerdale had the greatest number of new cases, with 26, however this was actually a 28 percent decrease from the previous week.

In fact, new cases decreased from the previous week in all Cumbrian districts except Barrow-in-Furness.

The 19 new cases in Barrow-in-Furness equalled new cases in the previous week, meaning the area had a zero percent change.

Barrow-in-Furness also replaced Copeland in having the highest rate of new cases – 28 new cases per 100k population.

Rates in all Cumbrian districts were below both the national and regional average rates with 38 and 44 new cases per 100k population respectively.

Although ONS had no registered death figures for Cumbria, according to the figures supplied by Gov.uk there were no deaths, within 28 days of positive COVID-19 test, between April 1 and 7.

The 50-59 age group accounted for the greatest number of new cases in Cumbria, followed by the 30-39, 12-18 and 40-49 age groups.

The only age group to experience an increase in new cases from the previous week was the 80+ age group, however, it is important to note that numerically this increase was extremely small (two new cases up from one new case in the previous week).

Pressure seems to be easing on the Cumbrian hospitals as by April 6 the number of new patients admitted with COVID-19 Positive status decreased in both North Cumbria Integrated Care (NCIC) and University
Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMB) by 60 percent and 17 percent respectively.

Along with this, the average number of patients with COVID-19 in beds also decreased from the previous week in both NCIC and UHMB by 50 percent and 37 percent.

As of the beginning of April ONS figures showed over 265,000 people in Cumbria had received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

All boroughs have now vaccinated over 60 percent of the adult population – Allerdale has vaccinated the most with 69 percent of its adult population.