Sharp rise in coronavirus cases in Dorset

37 people tested positive in the Dorset Council area in the week to 9th September, compared with 9 the week before.

Public Health Dorset says they've tracked a lot of the cases down to travelling.

Sam Crowe, Director of Public Health Dorset said:

"Most of those cases we know are linked with travel, and we've got a really high completion rate through test and trace at the moment.

"So we're confident that we're managing to follow up on all those cases and their contacts and limit the further spread of the virus."

We're also being urged to go 'back to the basics' and stick to the guidelines including social distancing, and careful hygiene measures - especially as scools return this week.

Sam continued:

"Remember those core public health messages of watching your distance, washing your hands, if you're in an enclosed space where you can't maintain a two metre social distance wear a mask.

"That's not just because we need to break transmission of the virus but also some of the consequences of the test and trace system.

"What we know this week from schools going back is that most have returned safely with no incidents at all but where we do have the odd positive case of coronavirus connected with a school we have to work through on a case-by-case basis to take prompt action where we need to.

"If you have a positive case in a workplace setting like a school, if you've been a little bit more relaxed about your social distancing you may get caught up in that requirement for close contact to self-isolate and if that happens to a small school that could be the difference between continuing to stay open or having to close just because of the number of staff that would have to be asked to self-isolate"