New dedicated regional website in fight against Covid-19 - The Leamington Observer

New dedicated regional website in fight against Covid-19

Leamington Editorial 20th Jul, 2020   0

A NEW website aims to help residents in the region stay safe in the ongoing fight against Covid-19.

As one of 11 national Beacons for the Test and Trace programme, Warwickshire County Council (WCC), Coventry City Council, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council and the West Midlands Combined Authority, now have a dedicated microsite – https://staysafecsw.info/

The new site has been created to showcase the work being undertaken as a Beacon Authority and includes key information including local outbreak plans, publicly available data sources, advice and resources on how to stay safe and signposts to the NHS Test and Trace service.

The site also hosts the Local Outbreak Plans for Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire. The local outbreak plans set out the approach taken by each authority to achieve their aim of reducing new community cases of Covid-19, while managing complex incidents of Covid-19 outbreaks in communities in specific settings such as care homes, schools and workplaces.




Plans also set out what steps will be taken to control the spread of Covid-19 at local level if numbers grow and further steps are required to prevent the rapid growth of the pandemic locally, working with national government.

They involve working with local communities to get across the importance of continued social distancing, getting tested through NHS 119 and self-isolating if people have symptoms or have been in contact with a suspected or confirmed case.


WCC leader Izzy Seccombe said: “The microsite will play a key role in helping to keep people informed about the work we are doing as one of 11 beacon authorities. It has been established in partnership with Coventry City Council and Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council alongside the West Midlands Combined Authority to highlight the key work that we are undertaking, to share our Local Outbreak Plans, share best practise and lessons learned from other local authorities.

“This will help us to ensure that we are doing everything we can together to manage Covid-19 cases and any outbreaks along with providing important advice and guidance for our residents to help slow the spread of the virus.”

Coventry City Council leader George Duggins said: “As we move into the next phase of Covid-19, we have come together to develop our microsite, which will be crucial in keeping people informed during the battle of Covid-19.

“We are best-placed to be able to respond to local needs and having the microsite will help us to achieve this as well as enable the great work that is already taking place to continue and be built upon. Since the start of the pandemic, we have been able to step-up and work with our partners to provide a coordinated response and we will do this once again using the microsite as our basis”.

Solihull Council leader Ian Courts said: “As community leaders the three councils have the local knowledge and intelligence to promote the “prevent” messages and deal with any potential outbreaks. The microsite is a welcome addition to our Beacon Test and Trace programme. It is not only a great resource to share best practice with others around the country, but it is also a way of being transparent with local people about what we have been doing and plan to do.

“It is vital we take our communities with us as we continue to reduce infection rates and respond to any outbreaks. Local support and understanding will be key to controlling the virus in the sub-region.”

The outbreak plans are overseen and approved by each local authority Covid-19 Health Protection Board which consists of representatives from Public Health England, NHS, Trading Standards, Environmental Health, Social Care Education.

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