Richmond Borough Council have announced plans to deal with a local lockdown today.

The council are still keen to stress that there is No imminent risk of a local lockdown and this plan is simply a plan to deal with any future rise in cases.

Richmond borough has had just 351 cases through the entire pandemic and you can see the full figures HERE

The Council has been given £858k by the Government to implement its tailored outbreak management plans, which will focus on seven key themes. These include:

1) Care homes and schools

2) Planning for prevention and management of outbreaks in other high-risk places, locations and communities

3) Ensuring local testing capacity

4) Leading contact tracing in complex settings

5) Integrating national and local data for scenario planning and responding fast to outbreaks

6) Supporting vulnerable local people to get help to self-isolate

7) Establishing local boards to oversee prevention and control of Covid-19.

Shannon Katiyo, Director of Public Health for Richmond upon Thames, said:

"I want to reassure local residents that we are working hard to help prevent and control outbreaks of COVID-19 here in Richmond upon Thames.

"Protecting the health of the public is one of our key priorities and this new local outbreak management plan is the next phase of controlling the spread of coronavirus and encouraging people to get tested and cooperate with NHS Test and Trace.

"The plan allows us to act fast as we receive local information and to manage and prevent the spread of outbreaks as lockdown measures are relaxed."

You can find out more about the council's plan HERE