I HOPE you are all staying safe and keeping well.

I know that many of you will have taken some much-needed time off to spend with your children over the half-term holiday this week and despite the rather soggy weather I hope it has helped you to relax and recharge your batteries for the coming months.

This week, I wanted to highlight the work of our newly-formed 'COVID-19 Hub' as colleagues across the Council continue to tackle the challenges of Coronavirus.

As part of our local response, a skilled team is now in place, whose focus is on preventing, controlling and managing COVID-19 outbreaks in the borough.

Supporting many council teams including Environmental Health, and Housing, education settings, health and care partners and more - the Hub team is going above and beyond to keep our communities safe.

The Hub is the key point of contact for managing outbreaks - an outbreak is classed as two or more cases in one place - in partnership with the regional Public Health England team and the Health & Safety Executive, as well as providing advice and support to local businesses and other settings.

The Hub also now manages the local contact tracing system, following up on those 'close contacts', identified by NHS Test and Trace but, who the national system has been unable to reach.

Much of this activity has been carried out since the pandemic began earlier this year, but I am pleased that it is now pulled together in one place so that we can ensure we optimise our resources and deliver an effective system-wide approach to stopping the spread of COVID-19 in Wirral.

The latest information about the support available to residents and businesses is at www.wirral.gov.uk or you can email: covid19enquiries@wirral.gov.uk if you have a specific query for the Hub.

While the work of the Hub will help us to stop the spread of coronavirus, protective measures are still the best way to reduce your risk of getting or passing on infection.

Please continue to:

  • make space
  • wear a face covering
  • wash your hands - regularly with soap and water for 20 seconds

If we all do the right thing, we can start to turn the tide on this virus.

We owe it to ourselves and our most vulnerable to keep trying.

Thanks for reading.

Please stay safe and Keep Wirral Well.

Julie

If you are interested in knowing more about the latest situation in Wirral and the work of the Covid-19 Hub, one of the initiatives the team has put in place is a COVID-19 Community Champions programme which anyone can sign up to and help cascade the latest information about coronavirus.

Go to www.wirral.gov.uk/communitychampions to sign up or email: communitychampions@wirral.gov.uk for more details.