28/01/2017 Look North (North East and Cumbria)

A ban on visiting patients at the Cumberland Infirmary

in Carlisle's been extended throughout this weekend

as staff manage a serious outbreak of norovirus.

They say 60 patients are affected and have banned

The first indications that an outbreak of the norovirus might

be imminent came early in the week and then the situation

rapidly deteriorated, causing the hospital

on Wednesday to reluctantly ban all but essential visits.

A couple of reasons. One is the dignity of the patients. We have

patients in there with diarrhoea and vomiting. It is not nice to be

around people when they have this. There is also the protection of the

patients because visitors may contribute to the spread of

infection probably unwittingly. They did have a similar

norovirus outbreak at the Infirmary two years ago

but this time, touch wood, the hospital staff feel they have

got on top of the situation quicker. It is less severe than a couple of

years ago. We had under 60 patients in affected areas at the moment and

it has been falling over the last couple of days since we introduced

this measure. We will review everything on Monday and hopefully

we will make a decision about whether we can ease restrictions in

place currently. Police have launched a murder

investigation in Hexham. They were called to the Studio Sport

Bar on Priest-popple. A 32-year-old man was found

with head injuries. A 25-year-old man's been arrested -

on suspicion of murder. There's major disruption this

weekend for motorists in Hartlepool. The eastbound carriageway

of the A689 into the town will be closed until early tomorrow

morning for re-surfacing. You can get to the village

of Newton Bewley but all Hartlepool-bound

traffic's being diverted. Celebrations have been taking place

to mark Chinese New Year Events were held at

Sunderland and Durham with Newcastle preparing to host

the biggest celebration In Sunderland, the year

of the rooster was marked by celebrations at the Library

and Winter Gardens, with demonstrations of martial arts,

arts and craft displays and dances featuring traditional

animal costumes. We are doing a Lion dance today

which is one of them major celebration dances. Where did these

come from and how do they feed into the celebrations? The Lion dances

from southern China but that dragon dances from the whole of China. In

our traditional celebrations, we have the lion. We have the dragon

team and the unicorn team. We all come out to celebrate that

everyone's fortune and wealth. Chinese New Year is like a brand-new

beginning. We have a good ear and good health.

It was a similar story in Durham, where another lion dance

That is a flavour of some of the celebrations but in Newcastle,

preparations are underway for the celebrations tomorrow.

On to the football now - starting with the action from the FA

Cup, where there was a shock exit for Newcastle.

The Toon humbled by a 3-0 defeat at League One strugglers Oxford.

At the Riverside though - Middlesbrough proved too strong

for lowly Accrington Stanley running out winners by 1-0.

In League Two - Carlisle conceded a late equaliser to draw one each

Hartlepool were beaten 3-1 at Newport County.

In the National League - York played out a goalless

But Gateshead were beaten 2-1 at Torquay And in

the Scottish League Two - Berwick went down 2-1 at Montrose.

Let us get the weather prospects now. Good evening.

We have variable amounts of cloud overnight and some showers and some

of those can be heavy and wintry. Clever spells and that will enable

frost to enable ice to form. Surface water hanging around. Temperatures

tomorrow morning, we have variable tomorrow morning, we have variable

amounts of cloud. We will see some rain.

That's it, we're back tomorrow night, and all the region's