CALLOUTS for mountain rescue teams in the Lake District more than doubled last week, it has been revealed.

While overall numbers since lockdown began remain very low - down 90 per cent on the same period last year - numbers of incidents jumped from three to seven last week.

The information was revealed in an update, posted to Youtube, by Richard Warren, chairman of the Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association (LDSAMRA).

In the clip, Mr Warren said: "You might ask the question 'why are we getting a message about staying off the mountains?'

"It's not about social distancing, it's not about the exercise, because the mountains are a fantastic place to exercise.

"The big issue of course is the risk. So if there's an injury or medical emergency, those casualties will require an ambulance crew at the road head.

"They will also require involvement from National Health Service (NHS) staff back at hospital.

"So you can see that by reducing the numbers of callouts on mountain rescue teams, we're actually reducing the demand on the NHS and saving lives."

He said the 12 teams which made up LDSAMRA comprised around 400 volunteers, around 80 of which were 'health service professionals or front-line' officers who could 'not afford' to become infected if called out to a mountain rescue.