Thank you to everyone who is staying at home. As the new strain of Covid-19 tries to spread further, your efforts in slowing it down are much appreciated. Eventually together we will stop it.

The number of cases circulating around our community is around five times higher than it was in November. Sadly, this only leads to more hospitalisations and Northwick Park, like other hospitals all over England, is working flat out to keep people alive.

More than 100 people have needed mechanical ventilation to help them breathe over recent days and sadly 16 Brent residents died from Covid-19 last week. This is a horrific situation. I’m not trying to shock anyone, but we do need to understand how serious this virus is.

Covid-19 is not "just the flu", or a hoax or something to shrug off as an irritation.

It is really important that all of us stay at home. If you do need to leave your home for one of the acceptable reasons – like to get a Covid-19 test or care for a loved one or escape domestic violence – please do the right thing and wash your hands, cover your face with a mask and keep at least 2 metres away from anyone you don’t live with.

Of course, some essential workers have jobs that cannot be done from home. If this is you, it is really important that you get tested for the virus regularly even if you feel fine. One in three people with Covid-19 show no signs of the virus at all so could be sharing it with others without knowing. Visit brent.gov.uk/covidtesting to book your free test. You’ll get the results back in less than 40 minutes.

There is light at the end of this very long tunnel. There are now three Covd-19 vaccines and the NHS is doing an amazing job treating those who need it. There is hope this year but we all need to pull together and support one another. If we all do our bit we can look forward to better times ahead.

Until then, please stay at home protect the NHS and Save Lives.

  • Cllr Neil Nerva is Brent's lead member for public health, culture and leisure.

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