• The Government is providing £300 million to local authorities in England to develop plans to keep the spread of coronavirus under control in local areas.
• West Sussex County Council to receive £3,178,715 as part of the launch of the wider NHS Test and Trace Service.

Every local authority in England has been provided with a share of £300 million to develop tailored outbreak control plans, which will set out measures to identify and contain potential coronavirus outbreaks locally in areas such as workplaces, housing complexes, care homes and schools.

Henry said;

“I pay tribute to everyone in Crawley who is working tirelessly to help control the spread of coronavirus locally.

“This additional funding from the Government will be key to supporting our local efforts, and I look forward to working with local authority leaders to ensure that it is put to good use.

“Tackling coronavirus requires us all to play our part, engaging with the new Test and Trace Service where we need to and continuing to stay alert, to control the virus, and save lives.”

West Sussex County Council will receive £3,178,715 to develop and implement its plan, and will work closely with the local NHS and local public health directors, as well as the new NHS Test and Trace Service to ensure it has sufficient resources to tackle the virus locally. This could, for example, include using the money to recruit additional staff where they are required to support local services.

Local efforts will be crucial to support the national rollout of NHS Test and Trace, which the Government has confirmed has already tracked tens of thousands of contacts of people who have tested positive for coronavirus. Test and Trace will be a crucial way of starting to get society back to some sense of normality in the months ahead.

The Minister for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention & Mental Health, Nadine Dorries, commented;

“Local authorities will be vital in the effort to contain COVID-19 at a community level. The pandemic requires a national effort but that will only be effective as a result of local authorities, working hand in hand with Public Health England and contact tracers to focus on the containment of local outbreaks, in order to control the transmission and the spread of the virus.

“For contact tracing to be effective when it is rolled out, we will need people to continue to follow guidelines and stay at home if they have symptoms.”