| Good evening There was good news for most parts of Lancashire today with the number of new Covid cases falling to a very low rate and in some areas there were no new cases at all. That is the result of a combination of factors, from the successful vaccine roll-out and lockdown measures to most of us adhering to social distancing measures. It is a similar picture across the country. With a few exceptions, rates, hospital admissions and deaths are all falling, so it is looking good for us to finally get some normality back in our lives. However, if this pandemic has taught us one thing it is that although we are physically an island, we cannot behave like one. The world is so small these days that it can take just hours for variants to spread from country to country. Cases in mainland Europe, India and Brazil are all rocketing and deaths are continuing to rise. So while we can pat ourselves on the back for the progress we have made, we need to take the rest of the world along with us. Otherwise we will be back at square one in no time. Until next time, stay safe, Gillian Drop me a line at gillian.parkinson@jpimedia.co.uk with your views and please subscribe to support sustainable local journalism in your community. Click here to view our offers. Here are some of today's top stories ... | 
