With cases continuing to rise rapidly across England, the Government has announced new Local COVID alert levels in place. They set out information on what you can and cannot do if you live, work or travel in each local alert level. Hampshire is currently on Tier 1, or medium alert. This means we must all continue to abide by the existing national measures that came into force on 25 September, including the Rule of Six (no large gatherings indoors or outdoors).
Since March, there have been 6,918 positive cases confirmed in our county and 1,074 COVID-19 associated deaths. To help prevent the further spread of the virus and the risk of Hampshire moving into Tier 2, it’s critical everyone also sticks to the basics, which are maintaining good and frequent hand hygiene, wearing a face covering where required, practising social distancing to help keep everyone safe - and getting tested if you have symptoms. We publish Hampshire COVID data weekly on our website. 

We have published a new, easy reference guide to help parents and carers decide when it’s right to send their child to school – or whether to keep them at home. The handy checklist clearly describes the coronavirus symptoms and explains what parents and carers should do if a child or family member has them. This guide can be found on our coronavirus Back To School web page where it is available to download and print.

If you’ve got a big idea on how to reduce household waste in your community we want to hear from you. Our Waste Prevention Community Grant Fund is open now for applications for up to £5,000 for new projects. It's open to schools, neighbourhood groups, charities, small businesses and more
See our website for more details. Applications can be submitted up to 4 December 2020

Some really good news for youth music education in Hampshire thanks to a £249,000 Arts Council recovery grant. It's music to the ears of Hampshire Music Hub whose teams have worked tirelessly with schools and other partners to ensure music can continue during these difficult times. The funding is part of the Government’s £1.57 billion package to protect the UK’s culture and heritage sectors from the economic impacts of COVID-19.

Many people became unpaid carers overnight when lockdown was imposed, increasing their responsibilities to look after older, disabled or seriously ill loved ones and relatives instantly. Healthwatch Hampshire, the independent champion for people who use health and social care services in Hampshire, wants to hear what it has been like for carers and how things need to change going forward. Take part in their survey. 

• Aldershot station improvements are a step closer (Pictured left)
  
• Safety improvements for A32 junction on Gosport to Fareham route 
• New Forest crossroads to be made safer 
• Upgrade to Andover rail bridge
• Andover town centre improvement works resume

To coincide with World Mental Health Day this month we re-launched our Five Ways to Wellbeing initiative to support Hampshire residents to improve their mental wellbeing during the coronavirus pandemic. The online resource has now been expanded with information, tips and further resources to specifically address the challenges created by the lockdown and its aftermath.

Following a countywide public consultation into staffed opening hours for Hampshire Libraries, details about the upcoming changes, which we plan to have fully in place by 1 January 2021, are now available on our website. New staffed opening hours for 40 Libraries will be gradually implemented throughout the remainder of this year, and customers will receive further updates in due course with the exact day from which these new hours will start at their local library.