Coronavirus (COVID-19)

National Lockdown - Stay at Home

From 05 January, national lockdown rules apply in England.  

Coronavirus cases are rising rapidly. This is associated with the emergence of a new variant of the virus. In addition, approximately 1 in 3 people who have coronavirus have no symptoms and could be spreading it without realising it.

Help reduce our infection rates and lower the spread of coronavirus in our community by following the rules for national lockdown: stay at home. This is to protect yourself, your loved ones and to help reduce the number of people needing hospital care. 

This means you must stay at home, unless you need to:

• Shop for basic necessities, for you or a vulnerable person
• Go to work, or provide voluntary or charitable services, if you cannot reasonably do so from home Exercise with your household (or support bubble) or one other person, this should be limited to once per day, and you should not travel outside your local area.
• Meet your support bubble or childcare bubble where necessary, but only if you are legally permitted to form one
• Seek medical assistance or avoid injury, illness or risk of harm (including domestic abuse)
• Attending a Covid-19 vaccine or test appointment is an appropriate reason to go out.
• If you are clinically extremely vulnerable you should only go out for medical appointments, exercise or if it is essential. You should not attend work.

This Stay at Home Poster provides a summary of the new restrictions. Alternative text is provided in our National Lockdown Summary section. The Government has also published easy read, largeprint and translated versions of the stay at home guidance. 

Visit the GOV.UK website to check for full information on what you can and cannot do during national lockdown. 

Vulnerable People

Please see our Help for the Community page for the current advice on shielding and support available. 

Kent Together

If you are vulnerable and need urgent support that cannot be met through existing support networks, please contact Kent Together. If you are unable to use the online form, call the helpline on 03000 41 92 92 (text relay 18001 03000 41 92 92). Deaf British Sign Language users can text the Sensory Services team on 07920 154 315 for help making a request.

Remember - 'Hands, Face, Space. And let fresh air in'.  

Every action counts in the fight against COVID-19:

• Hands – wash your hands regularly and for 20 seconds
• Face – wear a face covering in indoor settings where social distancing may be difficult, and where you will come into contact with people you do not normally meet
• Space – stay 2 metres apart from people you do not live with where possible, or 1 metre with extra precautions in place (such as wearing face coverings or increasing ventilation indoors)
• Fresh Air - letting fresh air into indoor spaces can reduce the risk of infection from coronavirus by over 70%. Read more on the importance of ventilation to reduce spread of COVID-19.

Please watch this short video to see why hands, face and space rules are so important.

Guidance

• Please see the Goverment's Coronavirus (COVID-19) pages for the most up-to-date information and guidance. 
• Get the latest NHS information and advice about coronavirus (COVID-19)
• Look after your mental health and wellbeing with Every Mind Matters - COVID-19 hub.