Go to Current Service Disruptions
Coronavirus Isolation payments
Government Business Grants
The country has been placed in full lockdown restrictions due to very rapidly rising levels of infections and a new, highly-transmissible variant of Coronavirus.
As in the first national lockdown, this means that we must ‘Stay at Home, Protect the NHS and Save Lives’. We must all do everything possible to protect ourselves, loved ones, our communities and capacity within the NHS.
- You should not leave your home, except for certain reasons such as shopping for basic necessities, medical reasons and exercise.
- Non-essential retail remains closed, as do leisure centres, indoor entertainment and personal care premises such as hairdressers.
- Everyone must work from home unless it is absolutely not possible.
For people who cannot work from home, who work in close contact with others, in other people’s homes or in the company of others, regular lateral flow testing is recommended.
There are currently facilities in Lincoln, Boston and Newark. No pre-booking is required; they operate on a walk-up basis, mainly seven days a week 8am to 8pm, and a test result is confirmed within half an hour. Please see more information available further down this page.
Please remember, around 1 in 3 people who have coronavirus have no symptoms and could be spreading it without realising it. You can protect yourself and others by following Hands. Face. Space. Even where meeting others is permitted, you should practice social distancing.
In summary:
- Household mixing – no mixing indoors other than support bubbles; outdoors maximum of two people meeting in public spaces;
- Pubs, bars and restaurants – closed: except for take-away, drive-through and home delivery;
- Shops – essential shops remain open; non-essential closed other than click-and-collect and delivery;
- Personal care – hairdressers, barbers, beauticians etc remain closed;
- Indoor and outdoor leisure – gyms, pools, classes etc remain closed;
- Indoor entertainment – closed; outdoor attractions may remain open for outdoor exercise;
- Work – from home unless unable to do so;
- Funerals – continue for up to 30 guests;
- Weddings – only in exceptional circumstances and reduced to six guests only;
- Places of worship – open for private prayer and communal worship, but no interaction beyond household group or bubble;
- Travelling – stay at home and only travel for work, education and other legally permitted reasons. If you must travel, stay local (i.e. within your town or village, or immediate area);
- Exercise – you can leave hoe to exercise by yourself, as a household, or with one other person outdoors;
- Clinically extremely vulnerable people – advised to stay at home, except to go out for exercise and health appointments. If unable to work from home, advised not to attend work;
- Overnight stays – no overnight stays away from home except limited exemptions;
- Accommodation – closed, with limited exceptions.
- There is a lot more detail on Gov.uk
- Your ongoing co-operation in supporting your families and communities in compliance is much appreciated.
Whereas the operation of the Council will continue unchanged in many areas, the announcement will see changes to certain areas of council activity continued, including the closure of leisure centres and a further escalation in Public Protection work and support for businesses and our most vulnerable residents.
We will be further reviewing our operations and how any changes might impact on services.
We will be further reviewing new guidance in respect of colleagues identified as ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’.
And inevitably we will be looking to cascade new business grant initiatives and communication with our most clinically vulnerable customers.
Given the work of the past months, it is clear that the Council is well-placed to respond to the challenge that this change will bring, having made a number of well-placed adjustments to the operation of our services.
There is more advice online at www.gov.uk/coronavirus.
How you can help
Follow Government guidance – we can all help control the virus if we all stay alert. This means you must:
- Stay at home as much as possible
- Work from home if you can
- Limit contact with other people
- Keep your distance if you go out (2 metres apart where possible)
- Wash your hands regularly
Self-isolate if you or anyone in your household has symptoms.
Go to Gov.uk/coronavirus - for the latest information from the UK Government.
Go to the NHS website for information about the virus and how to protect yourself.
Keep yourself informed - service disruptions are detailed on our current service disruptions page.
You can also sign-up for a regular newsletter and updates about ‘Emergencies and Service Disruptions’.
As part of our duty to residents, we are communicating out some of the latest information on the Coronavirus outbreak. You can follow us on Twitter @northkestevendc and on our Facebook page.
Alternatively, sign up for our e-bulletins on our Stay Connected webpage.