Readers will be aware that Barrow hit the national headlines recently for apparently having the highest coronavirus infection rate, per 100,000 people, than anywhere else in the country.

At the time, leading community figures called for calm, as they believed the high statistics were the result of proactive testing undertaken by the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT), which runs both Furness General Hospital and Westmorland General Hospital, as well as the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.

Now, as we reveal on page nine of today's Mail, Public Health England (PHE) has confirmed that this was indeed the case.

Although the results of PHE's investigation come as a relief, it would be unwise to assume that all is well.

Barrow, and the rest of Cumbria, have been badly hit by the coronavirus and our communities are still in mourning.

More than 400 individuals - fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters, have lost their lives in the county.

So the news that Barrow has not been hit as badly as first thought should not signal an abandonment of common sense.

We must stick to social distancing guidelines and we must stick to good hygiene practises.