POLICE have reiterated a warning to visitors to stay away from the Lake District.

This came after a busy day in the tourist area on Saturday as people ignored coronavirus social distancing advice.

Cumbria Police said the Lake District and those other tourist attractions still open were experiencing an “influx” of visitors.

Jonathan Benson, a farmer from Langdale, posted on Facebook: "We are all going to end up on lockdown and nobody wants that.

"Car parks are full, they are parking along the road sides.

"You can stay at home and get this thing over and done with.

"Businesses will find it hard for a month and I understand a lot of my friends rely on tourism. But people will lose loved ones if we don't get on top of this."

Meanwhile Andrew Slattery, assistant chief constable of Cumbria Police, said health and social care services in Cumbria would be “stretched to breaking point” by the crisis.

“Large numbers of visitors will only place an additional burden on these hard-pushed professionals,” he said.

“These are unprecedented times and our first priority is the protection of life. People’s lives must come first.”

He added members of the public also had to ask themselves in the coming weeks if travel which would see them come into contact with people was essential.

He said government measures could only be effective if individuals took steps to limit social contact and believed small actions could end up saving lives.

These words came as the UK coronavirus death toll reached 240 on Sunday. A total of 5018 people have tested positive in Britain and more than 300,000 worldwide cases had been confirmed with more than 13,000 deaths.

Earlier, Boris Johnson advised Brits not to visit loved ones on Mother's Day.

Mr Johnson also said the NHS would write to 1.5m people with underlying health conditions, strongly advising them not to go out.

They will include those who have received organ transplants, those living with severe respiratory conditions such as cystic fibrosis or those who have specific cancers, such as blood or bone marrow.

Asked whether Britain could follow other European countries and go into lockdown, Housing Secretary Robert Jendrick said: "We don't want to go down that route.We want to live in a free society where we can continue to go about activities while continuing to follow the medical advice.

"But this isn't a game, this is very serious. People need to follow that advice."