Nottingham?s rate of Covid-19 infection is now rising higher than many other parts of the country. As a result, we fully expect later this week that the Government will introduce more restrictions in Nottingham as in Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool, where infection rates are similar to our own.

Ahead of this announcement, we are urging people to take action now and not mix indoors with people from other households. We strongly advise young people, including students in the city, to remain in their social bubbles and not mix in their homes with people from other households. It remains OK to mix with those in your support bubbles unless someone has tested positive or has symptoms.

This dramatic increase in positive cases of Covid-19 as well as a rise in the rate of infection is a significant and worrying change. It means the measures we currently have in place are no longer enough to stop the spread of the virus in our city. We will have to do more to keep people safe in Nottingham.

It is important to acknowledge that the majority of people are following the correct behaviours and playing their part in keeping our city safe ? and we thank them for this.

However, nobody can afford to be complacent. Everyone needs to ask themselves, ?am I doing enough to guard against a disease that could harm me, or the person next to me or my loved ones?? If not, you need to change your approach and stick rigidly to the rules, if we are to see a reduction in the number of cases that are currently sweeping through our city.

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Self-isolation is an incredibly important and effective way of slowing the spread of a disease like COVID-19. By self-isolating when necessary, you are not only protecting your community, you are also helping all those who may become very sick if they become infected and those key workers who have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic.

We now know that people can pass the virus on even when they don?t have symptoms. If you leave home while you could be infectious, even if you feel fine, you could pass the virus onto other people.

You need to self-isolate if:

• You have any COVID-19 symptoms
• You or someone in your household are waiting for a test result
• You or someone in your household tests positive for COVID-19
• You?re notified by NHS Test and Trace or the NHS COVID-19 app that you could be at risk of having coronavirus because you?ve been in close contact with someone who has the virus.

Self-isolation means staying at home and avoiding contact with other people. In practical terms, this means that you must:

• Stay at home
• Not go to work, school or to public areas
• Not use public transport
• Avoid visitors to your home.

Self-isolation can be difficult so please do check-in with your family, friends and neighbours if you know they?re self-isolating and see if you can help them. If you are self-isolating in Nottingham and you do not have anyone that can help or support you then please contact our Customer Hub 0115 915 5555, or visit Help for residents who are self-isolating.

Financial support is available for people who are employed and cannot work. Find out more here https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus/worker-support

The Government has launched the NHS COVID19 app as another way of tackling coronavirus. I would encourage everyone who can to download it to help keep themselves and others safe. It will also help you enter premises like pubs which now require customers to scan a QR code.

The app has a number of tools, including contact tracing, local area alerts, and QR venue check-in and it?s worth pointing out that it does all this entirely anonymously. Any data shared within the app is held on your phone. The app will not hold any personal information about you, or track your location. It can be easily downloaded from the Google and Apple app stores. Find out more http://www.nhs.uk/apps-library/nhs-covid-19/