Nearly one in four close contacts of people with Covid-19 are not being reached by the Test and Trace system in Cumbria, amid a record number of new positive cases.

Data from the Department for Health and Social care shows 15,926 people who tested positive for Covid-19 in Cumbria were transferred to the Test and Trace service between May 28 and January 6.

That means 3,442 new cases were transferred in the latest seven-day period – the largest increase since the regime began.

Contact tracers ask new patients to give details for anyone they were in close contact with 48 hours before their symptoms started.

This led to 33,335 close contacts being identified – those not managed by local health protection teams, which are dealt with through a call centre or online.

But 77.2% of those were reached, meaning 7,597 people were not contacted or did not respond.

That was up from the 73.2% reached in the period to December 30, and was the highest proportion in the North West, where 67% of contacts were reached on average.

Across England, 92.7% of contacts not managed by local health protection teams were reached and told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace in the latest week to January 6.