CARE homes, schools and high-risk settings are Wiltshire Council's top priority in its Covid outbreak control plan.

The authority aims to improve the 'speed of response, through planning and deployment of resources'.

Seven main priorities have been identified as being essential to ensure the effectiveness of the plan.

They include protecting people in care homes and schools, identifying high risk settings, community, and places, ensuring local testing capacity, leading contact tracing, integrating data for planning and to be able to respond quickly, supporting vulnerable people, and setting local boards to control Covid-19.

Chief executive Terence Herbert said: “We all have a vital role to play in suppressing possible outbreaks before they gain momentum and our plan puts a system in place to give us all the best opportunity to do this.

“The system of testing, tracing and self-isolating will help us all to resume our normal lives as much as possible, while being protected from the threat still posed by Covid-19.”

The framework provides a set of principles and approaches. It says: “We will build on existing health protection processes, not duplicate them.

“We will ensure testing takes place quickly and tracing contacts of those who have tested positive occurs at pace, advising them to self-isolate.”

Last month, the government said that local authorities would be able to implement their own lockdown in a bid to respond quickly to outbreaks.

Councils could close shops, cancel events and shut outdoor public spaces if needed.

The council will work in partnership with PHE, CCG, Swindon Borough Council and many more.

Like some other local authorities, SBC has published its plan a few weeks ago.

Swindon Borough has been given £900,000 by the government to put its plans into practice.

Both councils made it clear that police could be called upon to enforce a new local lockdown.