NEARLY half of Middlesbrough's coronavirus outbreak cases have involved people under 40, it can be revealed.

New figures revealed today by South Tees Public Health show that positive cases have increased significantly in Middlesbrough.

In the last two weeks nearly 100 new cases of Covid-19 have been diagnosed in the town.

Of the 98 confirmed cases in Middlesbrough, 47 have been of people under 40.

Mark Adams, Director of Public Health for South Tees, said: "We are doing everything we can to reduce transmission through contact tracing and we need people to engage with our contact tracers and isolate when they are advised to do so.

"The rate of new cases in Middlesbrough puts us at within the national ‘watch list'.

"What we are trying to do is reduce the need to lockdown and we need everybody's help to achieve that.

"Covid hasn't gone away, and is just as deadly, however as we are seeing a much younger age range affected the health impact has been less significant than we saw in April and May.

"The apparent reduced health impact seems to have created a reduced attention for some people in keeping themselves, their family and their neighbours safe. This is really short-sighted and will put other people at significant risk.

"If you've got Covid and you infect an older or vulnerable person then they could become extremely ill or even die so we really need people to consider others and show they care by doing the right thing to reduce the spread of this deadly virus and get Middlesbrough back on its feet again."