Posted on: Friday 25 September 2020
This week the leader of Torfaen Council, Cllr Anthony Hunt made an appeal to the Torfaen public to follow the Covid-19 rules and guidance.
'Firstly, I’d like to thank everyone who is sticking to the rules by maintaining good hand hygiene; keeping a safe distance with people from outside their extended household; and isolating at home if they have symptoms of Covid.
However, across the country a widespread breakdown of social distancing has resulted in these latest control measures and local lockdowns across the region. The R value is back above 1 in Wales and right now the virus is being passed silently from person to person in our communities.
We know this virus spreads quickly and relies on close human contact. It is now critical we all follow the rules and reduce the amount of close contact we all have with people outside of our households. We are also seeing the number of older people catching the virus increase which is resulting in a rise in hospital admissions.
To avoid the type of severe lockdown we experienced in the Spring, we need everyone to take responsibility and follow the rules. Please do this to protect yourself and your family.
Our public protection team are out in the borough making frequent spot checks on pubs, shops and businesses. They will also respond to complaints about failure to comply with social distancing and hand hygiene requirements and have served improvement notices or closure notices where there is a lack of compliance. To reduce transmission, it is also vital people isolate at home if symptomatic and provide as much information on their movements if contacted by our Track, Trace and Protect team.
Although media coverage quite often highlights how this pandemic brings out the worst in our society – we must also remember that it frequently brings out the best in people and I must thank all the residents and our staff who continue to make a vital contribution in the community.
Thank you'
Cllr Anthony Hunt, Leader of Torfaen Council