A detailed plan revealing how North Somerset will respond if a local outbreak of coronavirus occurs has been published.

North Somerset Council has developed its Local Outbreak Management Plan (LOMP), in-line with all upper tier authorities across the country, to guide the council, partners and the community through steps to reduce the spread of coronavirus.

The authority has been allocated £868,000 from a £300m government fund to work with the NHS, partners and stakeholders to establish a local approach to a possible virus outbreak.

The LOMP details how North Somerset Council will work with partner organisations at local, regional and national level to effectively identify and respond to a potential outbreak of the Covid-19 virus.

North Somerset Council published the plan, which focuses on seven key areas, including care homes and schools, high-risk places, local testing capacity, contact tracing, data integration and protecting vulnerable.

The focus on these is to have systems in place to identify and suppress possible outbreaks before they gain momentum.

Matt Lenny, director of Public Health at North Somerset Council and author of the plan, said: “This is a great opportunity to confirm what we have learnt from our response to the pandemic so far and ensure that future planning is fit for purpose. We hope we will not see another local outbreak but if we do, we are prepared to control this awful virus. Everyone has a role to play in reducing the impact, and the best advice I can give remains – keep washing your hands regularly for at least 20 seconds, keep up your social distancing efforts, and if you have any symptoms that you think could be coronavirus, please book yourself a test immediately at www.nhs.uk/coronavirus and self-isolate until you have your results. We have plenty of testing capacity locally, so you’ll be seen very quickly and have your results within a day or two.”

Progress in delivering the LOMP will be reviewed by the North Somerset Partnership and regular updates will describe any changes and the responses proposed.

The LOMP and associated documents are available from North Somerset Council at www.n-somerset.gov.uk/lomp.