Dominic Cummings defended travelling to County Durham to self isolate with his family during the coronavirus lockdown and made a public statement earlier today, where he said he felt he did not need to apologise. The Prime Minister also defended the chief advisor after it was reported he drove 260 miles from north London to his parents home in Durham and back, twice, in April. Now Durham Police have given a new statement regarding the actions of the government advisor.

Mr Cummings is said to have driven to the north east while he and his wife, journalist Mary Wakefield, were showing symptoms of COVID-19.

He visited his parents in order to gain help looking after the couple’s child.

However the couple remained in self isolation in a nearby property as they battled the virus.

Further reports also suggested he took a second trip to the region in April, having already returned to London following his recovery from the killer disease.

Now, Durham Police has issued a new statement regarding Dominic Cummings’ controversial visit to County Durham.

The police force has been asked to investigate sightings of the top government advisor in the county after Mr Cummings admitted making a 264 mile trip from London to the North East while suffering from COVID-19 symptoms.

It follows a statement released on May 23 from the Acting Durham Police, Crime and Victims’ Commissioner who said Dominic Cummings’ visit to Durham was “most unwise”.

The full statement from Durham Police reads: “We can confirm that on April 1, an officer from Durham Constabulary spoke to the father of Dominic Cummings.

“Mr Cummings confirmed that his son, his son’s wife and child were present at the property.

“He told the officer that his son and son’s wife were displaying symptoms of coronavirus and were self-isolating in part of the property.

“We can further confirm that our officer gave no specific advice on coronavirus to any members of the family and that Durham Constabulary deemed that no further action was required in that regard.

“Our officer did, however, provide the family with advice on security issues.”

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In a statement read in Downing Street’s rose garden, Mr Cummings said his decision to drive from London to County Durham was based on fears over a lack of childcare if he became incapacitated with COVID-19.

He said the decision was also based upon concerns about his family’s safety.

Mr Cummings said: “I don’t regret what I did.

“I think reasonable people may well disagree about how I thought about what to do in the circumstances, but I think what I did was actually reasonable in these circumstances.

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“The rules made clear that if you are dealing with small children that can be exceptional circumstances.

“And I think that the situation that I was in was exceptional circumstances and the way that I dealt with it was the least risk to everybody concerned if my wife and I had both been unable to look after our four-year-old.”

Mr Cummings admitted travelling to Barnard Castle by car to test if he was fit to drive the full journey back to London due to concerns over his vision after recovering from illness.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson said he could “not mark down” Mr Cummings for the way he acted.

He told the Downing Street press conference on Sunday that, following “extensive” talks with his aide, he concluded “he followed the instincts of every father and every parent”.

He said Mr Cummings had “acted responsibly, legally and with integrity”.

The senior aide told reporters that he had done the “right thing” when quizzed outside his north London home.

However there have since been calls for him to offer a further explanation.