All our help and information is now available in a single place on the SCC website https://www.somerset.gov.uk/latest-coronavirus-updates/
This page is refreshed through the day so please check in regularly to keep across developments and news.
Public Health dashboard: Detailed Public Health information dashboards are available on our website www.somerset.gov.uk/coronavirus just scroll down to ‘Covid-19 dashboard’. These are updated daily.
Top stories today:
Legal restrictions due to end on 19 July
Coronavirus restrictions are set to end in England after the Prime Minister set out how life will soon return close to normal.
Subject to a final review of the data next week, legal restrictions will end on Monday 19 July.
This means that when step 4 takes place:
You will not need to stay 2 metres apart from people you do not live with.
There will be no limits on the number of people you can meet.
It will no longer be necessary for the Government to instruct people to work from home. Employers can start to plan a return to workplaces.
Face coverings will no longer be required by law in any setting.
There will no longer be limits on the number of people who can attend weddings, civil partnerships, funerals and other life events (including receptions and celebrations). There will be no requirement for table service at life events, or restrictions on singing or dancing.
There will no longer be restrictions on group sizes for attending communal worship.
Covid-19 has not gone away, so when you take part in these activities it’s important to remember the actions you can take to stay safe.
Testing, tracing, and isolating
Symptomatic testing will continue to be available. Tracing and isolation will remain key to monitoring and containing the spread of the virus, helped by voluntary use of the NHS Covid-19 app.
Regular asymptomatic testing will continue to help find cases and break the chains of transmission. It is particularly focused on those who are not fully vaccinated, those in education, and those in higher-risk settings such as the NHS, social care, and prisons.
People may also wish to use regular rapid testing to help manage periods of risk such as returning to the workplace or when spending prolonged time with a more vulnerable individual.
From 16 August, anyone who is a close contact of someone who tests positive for Covid will no longer have to self-isolate if they are fully vaccinated.
Instead adults who’ve been in close contact with a positive case will be advised to get a PCR test as soon as possible to make sure they haven’t been infected.
People who have a second vaccine dose close to 16 August must wait two weeks after the jab before following the new rules. This is to allow the vaccination to take full effect.
From the same date children will no longer have to self-isolate after a close contact tests positive either and will instead be given advice about whether they need to get tested. This should stop entire classes or year group bubbles having to self-isolate at home.
However, anyone who tests positive will still have to self-isolate, regardless of their vaccination status or age.
Use NHS app to show Covid status
Covid-status certification will not be required in law as a condition of entry for visitors to any setting. Organisations are already able to ask visitors for proof of Covid-status, providing they meet existing legal obligations including under equality law.
People can easily demonstrate their Covid-status by completion of a full vaccine course, a recent negative test, (72 hours) or proof of natural immunity (from a positive test in the previous 180 days) – through the NHS Covid Pass on the NHS Covid-19 app
You can also access your NHS Covid Pass via the NHS.uk website or via 119.
The George Cross awarded to the NHS
The NHS has been collectively awarded the George Cross by Her Majesty the Queen.
The award comes in recognition of 73 years of service, including for the efforts of healthcare workers across the country during the Covid-19 outbreak.
The George Cross, the highest civilian gallantry award, equivalent to the Victoria Cross, has only been bestowed collectively twice before. It is given for acts of the greatest heroism or of the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger.
Have you got hospitality vacancies that you can’t fill?
A new service for the 2021 season has been developed to promote current vacancies in the hospitality sector directly to young people in schools and colleges here in Somerset.
Somerset County Council along with the four district councils, Education Business Partnership and industry representatives, have worked together to produce a link between a central web hospitality vacancy platform and direct communications to young people in the colleges and training centres.
The benefit of this vacancy portal is that we can speak directly and exclusively to people who will be looking for summer work opportunities. You can log on to the portal here https://somersetjobs.co.uk/ where you can register your vacancies.
Grants from The Somerset Fund available for local charities
Grants up to £2,500 are now available for core costs for smaller charities, community groups, sports clubs and social enterprises based in Somerset. Somerset Community Foundation (SCF) manages The Somerset Fund and is encouraging groups that run on less than £100,000 per year to apply now for funding.
The grants from The Somerset Fund can be used to pay for ongoing running costs, known as core costs. Applications to the Fund can be made through SCF’s website and the deadline to apply is 5pm, Friday 13 August 2021.
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Your Somerset is delivered to households across Somerset, three times a year and contains news and information about the Council’s services and campaigns and projects that County Council and our partners are involved in.