Coronavirus (COVID-19)

England is at Step Two of the roadmap out of lockdown. Restrictions are still in place.

From Monday 12 April there are some changes to what you can do as venues and activities become available again.

Venues that will reopen:

• All retail
• Personal care premises such as hairdressers
• Public buildings such as libraries
• Outdoor hospitality such as pubs and restaurants
• Outdoor attractions including zoos, theme parks
• Indoor leisure and sports facilities for individual exercise
• All childcare and supervised activities for all children.
• Parent and child groups for up to 15 people (children under five are not counted in this number)

Events and visits changes:

• Weddings, civil partnership ceremonies, wakes and other commemorative events can take place for up to 15 people
• Wedding receptions for up to 15 people outdoors, but not in private gardens
• Some outdoor events such as fetes and fairgrounds
• Self-contained accommodation for overnight stays with your household or support bubble
• Care home residents can nominate two named individuals for regular indoor visits (following a rapid lateral flow test)

What will continue:

• Up to six people who don’t live together can meet outside; or two households can meet outside, even if this goes above six people. Keep at a safe distance from those not in your household.
• Outdoor sport and leisure facilities, including golf courses, sports courts and open air pools remain open, with social distancing measures in place.
• Organised outdoor sport, including grassroots football, with guidance in place to keep people as safe as possible.
• Face-to-face learning will continue.

Where possible, you must:

• Work from home

• Minimise the travel

Remember: Hands, Face, Space, Fresh Air.

Testing and self-isolating remain essential:

• Book a test if you have any symptoms of coronavirus, no matter how mild – a new persistent cough, a temperature or a loss of or change to your sense of smell or taste.UK/get-coronavirus-test or call 119
• Get free twice-weekly asymptomatic tests – for when you don’t have symptoms. Now available to all.

Read the roadmap here

Leaving home

The stay at home order has now ended, but restrictions remain in place:

• Continue to work from home where you can
• Minimise the number of journeys you make, and avoid long distance trips. Avoid travelling at the busiest times and routes
• Travel abroad is prohibited, other than for a small number of permitted reasons

Read the Government’s guidance here.

We regularly review updates from Government as they are published and work out what they mean for council services. We’ll publish information on these pages, or you can sign up for email updates to be the first to know.

Following Government instructions designed to help reduce the spread of coronavirus, the council has taken a number of steps to help ensure the wellbeing of customers, staff and the wider community.

This means some of the services you usually use will be closed, or will operate in a different way. We understand the changes to our services may be frustrating, but Government advice is clear: we all need to do what we can to stop coronavirus from spreading.

We are working hard to make sure the services you rely on are available wherever possible. We are putting additional measures in place to make sure that people who are more likely to be affected by the social distancing measures get the support they need.

Working together in the pandemic

We’ve reduced how many council staff are out and about during the pandemic but some people still need to work around the city. We only send out staff when we need to. We’re careful to follow the latest national coronavirus restrictions, and our staff all follow safety rules. We’re committed to making sure that everyone who works for the council treats all of our residents and customers politely and with respect. In return we ask everyone to respect our staff while they are doing their jobs in these challenging times.

If you need to contact us, our phone lines and customer service emails are available and we are keeping the website updated with information about affected services, and alternatives wherever we have them.

We recognise calling a helpline is not easy for people who have difficulty using the telephone, for example some people with autism, or those with a disability, such as hearing loss. As a result we have created a text message option.

Simply text your name and a brief description of the support you need and whether you would like us to respond with a phone call or email – if you choose email make sure you tell us your email address.

The number to text is 07860 027785, this number is monitored 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday. We will get back to you as soon as we can.

Please only use this number if you have difficulties making phone calls so we can use the service to support those who really need it.

• Sharing of information for the COVID-19 extremely vulnerable persons’ service
• Public health COVID-19 testing data privacy notice
• COVID-19 test and trace data privacy notice
• Portsmouth City Council – coronavirus risk assessment