• Cases of Covid-19 are increasing in the city and county
  • To stop the spread, Public Health directors urge everyone to play their full part by following government guidance
  • Warnings against gatherings at home with more than one household
  • People needing to share car lifts urged to follow full guidance on face covering and distancing
  • Continue to wear face coverings, wash hands and get a free test if you have symptoms


Public Health officials are urging people in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire to take action to stop the spread of Covid-19.

Confirmed cases of virus have increased in the city and county over the last few weeks – mirroring the rise in people testing positive nationally.

The two Directors of Public Health in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire – Alison Challenger and Jonathan Gribbin – are today calling for everyone to remain vigilant and follow guidance to prevent Covid-19 rising further.

As well as continuing to wash hands, keeping socially distant and getting a free test for symptoms, people who have to share a car to get to work should be careful to use face coverings and to clean car surfaces at the end of the journey.

Families and friends from different households should also follow guidance when meeting in enclosed places, usually in the home; this is leading to the spread into other areas such as workplaces.

Jonathan Gribbin, Director of Public Health in Nottinghamshire, said: “Rates of Covid-19 were decreasing in Nottinghamshire. But that is no longer the case and it is causing us some concern. Covid-19 has not gone away and what we are seeing now is an increase in new cases.

“If we do nothing, eventually we could see Covid-19 cases returning in a way which impacts local jobs and schools, and threatens our friends and families. We can avoid that happening. To do so we need everyone to play their part – individuals, friends, households, businesses. We are asking you to help by following all the precautions when you interact with anyone outside your family or household bubble.  If we take action now, we can slow the spread of the virus and find a better way through the months ahead.”

Current figures show:

  • 26 new positive cases of Covid-19 in Nottingham City in the last seven days, up from 17 cases in the previous seven days
  • 49 new positive cases of Covid-19 in Nottinghamshire County in the last seven days, up from 36 cases in the previous seven days.

Alison Challenger, Director of Public Health for Nottingham City, said: “We have to prevent the spread of Covid-19. We all have our part to play in this – everyone has worked hard to stick to the guidelines: people remained at home during lockdown and people are now working with us as we continue to safely reopen our city and county.

“But clearly Covid-19 is still a threat to our health and wellbeing. We have to continue to remain vigilant and take every precaution possible to keep people safe in our communities.

“We look forward to getting our children back into school in September and people back into their workplaces – but if the Covid-19 rate continues to rise, this will be more and more of a challenge. Returning to normal after lockdown needs to be done safely to both protect lives and enable the local economy to recover.”

Take precautions when travelling by car

Those travelling by car should only do so with people from their household or within their support bubble, or if this is a work requirement. Outside of this, avoiding sharing cars with other people, but if people must then make sure to:

  • Share the transport with the same people each time
  • Keep to small groups of people at any one time
  • Open windows for ventilation
  • Clean your car between journeys using standard cleaning products; make sure you clean door handles and other areas that people may touch
  • Ask the driver and passengers to wear a face covering.

Having friends round to your home

People are also asked to continue to keep within family ‘bubbles’ in their own homes. At all times, it is important to maintain social distancing from people you do not live with to reduce the risk of spreading the virus. You should only have close contact with people outside of your household if you are in a support bubble with them. People should only meet people they do not live within three types of groups:

  • Continue to meet in any outdoor space in a group of up to six people from different households
  • Single adult households – in other words adults who live alone or with dependent children only – can continue to form an exclusive ‘support bubble’ with one other household
  • You can also meet in a group of two households (anyone in your support bubble counts as one household), in any location ‒ public or private, indoors or outdoors. This does not need to be the same household each time.

As well as guidelines on car sharing and gatherings at home, the best steps to prevent the spread of Covid-19 continue to be:

  • Maintain social distance
  • Wear a face covering in shops and on public transport
  • Wash hands with soap and water for 20 seconds
  • Share test and trace details when you go to a pub, café or restaurant
  • Self-isolate if you have symptoms and get a free test for Covid-19

New rules on face coverings from Saturday 8 August

The places where people will have to wear a face covering will be expanded to include:

  • funeral directors
  • premises providing professional, legal or financial services
  • cinema
  • theatres
  • bingo halls
  • concert halls
  • museums, galleries, aquariums, indoor zoos or visitor farms, or other indoor tourist, heritage or cultural sites.
  • nail, beauty, hair salons and barbers – other than where necessary to remove for treatments
  • massage parlours
  • public areas in hotels and hostels
  • places of worship
  • libraries and public reading rooms
  • community centres
  • social clubs
  • tattoo and piercing parlours
  • indoor entertainment venues (amusement arcades, funfairs, adventure activities e.g. laser quest, go-karting, escape rooms, heritage sites etc)
  • storage and distribution facilities
  • veterinary services
  • auction houses

People are also strongly encouraged to wear a face covering in other enclosed public spaces where social distancing may be difficult and where people come into contact with people they do not normally meet.