THE Barrow borough is officially now in the Tier 2 alert level as coronavirus cases continue to rise.

It is now illegal for more than two households to meet indoors - including at homes and pubs.

You can however still meet outdoors.

It is crucially important we all play our part in helping to reverse the spike in cases we are currently seeing.

We have lost too many lives and sacrificed too much already to let the virus tighten its grip on society even more.

Now is the time to stop that trend.

We do not want to enter the Tier 3 restrictions which were announced for neighbouring Lancashire yesterday.

That would see pubs and restaurants forced to close and cause further, perhaps irreversible, damage done to the local economy - as well as further job losses.

Sadly, not everyone has been taking lockdown restrictions seriously.

Today we report how eight people have become the first in the county to appear before the courts charged with flouting rules.

In one case a man drove all the way from Warrington to Ulverston - and refused to leave when asked to do so.

Thousands of pounds worth of fines were handed out to the rulebreakers by magistrates.

And we hope that will act as a strong deterrent to anyone thinking of disregarding the recent rule changes.