Indications are positive that an outbreak of Covid-19 on a ward at the Cumberland Infirmary is being successfully contained.

It was announced last Thursday that the Carlisle hospital's cardiac ward had been closed to new admissions following the identification of coronavirus in a number of the ward's patients.

The ward was immediately closed to new admissions, and remains closed to new admissions now.

A spokeswoman for the North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the infirmary, said the ward would reopen as soon as possible.

The spokeswoman also said that there have been no further cases of Covid-19 detected on the Cumberland Infirmary's cardiac ward.

There has been no confirmation that the identification of Covid-19 cases at the infirmary's cardiac ward is in any way linked to the "cluster" of Covid-19 cases identified in parts of Dumfries & Galloway, which has led to continued travel restrictions across the areas of Annan, Gretna, Dumfries and Lockerbie, as well as several other locations.

However, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said at her daily coronavirus briefing yesterday that it was "possible" there was a link between an outbreak at the infirmary and the outbreak in Dumfries & Galloway.

She added yesterday that the Scottish Government was seeking some "final reassurances" on the situation at the Cumberland Infirmary before lifting the travel restrictions, which she expected to be able to do today.

She said yesterday: "We’re seeking some final assurances and information today around the situation at the Carlisle hospital, and more generally in Cumbria.

"But I am very hopeful that following a further review later today we will be able to lift the restrictions for Dumfries and Galloway tomorrow, and of course I will give an update on that then."

The First Minister explained that there were still more detailed investigations to be carried out in order to conclusively identify the source of the outbreak.

"We think it is possible that it has been associated with a nosocomial (originating in a hospital) outbreak in the hospital in Carlisle," she said.

"And so we are seeking assurance that that nosocomial outbreak is under control, so that in addition to the assurances we have about the cluster in Dumfries & Galloway, we know if that potentially was the source, we also have an assurance that that part of it is contained as well"