Eden District Council has urged members of the public who attended certain local pubs recently to get tested for COVID-19, even if they do not have symptons.

The announcement came after several positive COVID-19 cases were recorded in the Eden area.

A council spokesperson said: "A local track and trace process is continuing with the identified cases, but as a precaution, anyone attending the pubs listed below on these specific dates and times are being advised to get tested for COVID-19."

Members of the public should get tested if they visited the following pubs at the specified times.

*Board & Elbow – Friday July 17, 3.30pm to 6.30pm; Sunday July 19, 12noon to 2pm.

*Castlegate Arms – Friday July 17, 6.45pm to closing time.

Testing is available at Carlisle at Brunton Park until Wednesday July 29 from 10am to 3pm, and at Penrith Rugby Club seven days a week.

Tests can be booked, or home kits ordered by visiting https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing-and-tracing/get-a-test-to-check-if-you-have-coronavirus/

NHS staff affected should arrange testing via their employer.

If testing slots are not available online, the public can attend Brunton Park without a booking by car or foot, providing they are wearing a mask and observing social distancing.

To prevent further spread of the virus, those who do test positive are urged to contact COVID-19 call centre on 0800 783 1968 to help in important local tracing efforts.

Colin Cox, Cumbria’s Director of Public Health, said of the announcement:
“Due to technical issues with digital apps where customers were unable to record their visits, and due to issues with the validity of contact details that customers have left with the pubs, we have taken the robust approach of making this public announcement.

“It is vital that customers properly use the systems put in place by pubs and other establishments to enable local contact tracing and to ultimately keep people safe.

“This virus spreads quickly and easily and particularly young people don’t always have symptoms. So getting a lot of people tested quickly will give us really good information about whether we have the situation under control.

“There has been a great public response so far to our earlier advice and I thank people for being proactive and getting tested. It really helps. I also want to stress again that this situation is no reflection on the pubs listed and provided they follow good hygiene practices the risk of transmission after the times these people visited is low.”