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 Now more than ever, the single most important action we can all take is to stay at home to protect the NHS and save lives.
See National Lockdown Rules At-a-glance.
You can also visit the Gov.uk website for details on what you can and cannot do.
While you are allowed to leave your home for some exceptions during the lockdown, if you develop Covid-19 symptoms, or are asked to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace, you must not leave your home.
Dr Aniruddh Shenoy from Royal Berkshire Hospital explains further in this short video:
  Please also remember that you cannot leave your home to meet socially with anyone you do not live with or are not in a support bubble with. While you may meet one other person to exercise outdoors locally, you should limit your social interactions at this time to avoid catching or spreading the virus.
You can only form a support bubble with another household for a limited number of reasons, and you should not form a support bubble with a household that is part of another support bubble.
See Support Bubble rules.
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 We are continuing to see a rise in COVID-19 cases locally at this time and high positivity rates for those receiving tests. As of 7 January West Berkshire has had 3,912 confirmed cases of COVID-19. The current weekly case rate is now 426.6 per 100,000.
It is critically important to follow the National Lockdown rules at this time and self-isolate for the entire 10 day period if instructed to do so by the NHS or local contact tracing system.
You can find the latest information about the number of coronavirus cases in West Berkshire and beyond on the Public Health for Berkshire website.
Separately, you can also view the local COVID-19 data shown by electoral ward within West Berkshire.
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Our Leader and Chief Executive talk about local vaccinations, lockdown and the closure of schools in today's update. Here's an excerpt:
"Although lockdown provides some short-term pain it does feel like we have turned the page and moved on to a new chapter in the fight against coronavirus. No doubt you will have seen the news about the start of the national vaccination programme following the approval of both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines. It won't change things overnight but it will protect millions of people from the virus in the coming months.
"Vaccinations are something we are often asked about, with residents looking to the council for information on their availability locally. Whilst we have an extensive public health remit, the vaccination programme is being delivered by the NHS. They are working hard to roll-out the vaccinations - it is being done as quickly as possible and on an unimaginable scale".
You can read the full Weeknotes online or adjust your subscription preferences to have it delivered to your inbox each week.
You can look up the latest operating hours for our key services on our Coronavirus Information for Residents page (scroll down to the Support Services section). This includes Household Waste and Recycling as well as Libraries information.
We are keen to support residents and businesses in need throughout the pandemic. Please visit the following pages for further information and to get in touch:
COVID-19 Support for Residents
COVID-19 Support for Businesses
**Please note that our website will experience service interruptions from midnight on Friday, 8 January until midnight on Sunday, 10 January for important maintenance updates.**
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 Sharing age-appropriate information to help inform and reassure children and young people can be particularly beneficial if they are anxious about COVID-19, testing and the lockdown.
Storicise has launched a new website to help primary and secondary age groups better understand testing and how to stay safe during the pandemic.
The Storicise platform is hosted by Dr Chris and Dr Xand from Operation Ouch.
They invite you and your children to explore their interactive quizzes and activities, or dive into some of the answers that they gave their curious Covid-19 questioners. More activities designed for home learning are on the way, so do check back often.
Visit www.storicise.com
In the first national lockdown, we stood on our doorsteps and balconies to clap for NHS workers, carers and keyworkers on Thursday evenings.
Clap for Carers was a resounding success and a wonderful way to say thank you to all those people who worked tirelessly to keep us safe, offer us care and support during an extremely difficult period.
Now the round of applause across the country every Thursday has been relaunched and extended to heroes such as volunteers, neighbours, shop workers and bus drivers, as well as the NHS.
If you do join in, we would love to see any photos and videos documenting this activity. Clap for Heroes is something that the whole family can do so here’s the link to the official Clap for Heroes website where you will find poster packs, activity packs and stickers.
So whether your photos and videos are being posted on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, don’t forget to tag @westberks and #clapforheroes.
Clap for Heroes, every Thursday evening at 8pm.
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Join the Berkshire West Wellbeing team at a Public Focus Group to discuss health and wellbeing services for the community:
13 January - 2pm
20 January - 6.30pm
27 January - 10am
You are invited to join up to 15-20 people to provide your feedback on 11 potential new priority areas under consideration for the new Health and Well-being Strategy for Berkshire. These include good mental health, physical activity, helping families with young children, support for people around smoking, alcohol and substance misuse, building strong communities and others.
The Zoom sessions will last 60-90 minutes. People can leave whenever they want but we would ask that they join on time to play an active part. To receive an email invitation please contact: berkshirewestwellbeing@gmail.com
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Being physically active during COVID-19 is very important for your physical and mental health. It can enhance your mood, wellbeing and energy levels by helping to reduce stress, anxiety and depression.
Get Berkshire Active has great tips for people of all ages for staying active at home.
Berkshire Vision, the charity for visually impaired children and adults, is running virtual fitness remote events.
NHS OneYou has lots of great advice for getting active and kickstarting better health
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Our Libraries have plenty of books to borrow (free of charge) on keeping active, such as physical fitness, crafting, cooking for healthy eating, tips on DIY, and much more.
You can reserve titles via our online catalogue, and although Libraries are closed due to the lockdown, you can collect your books from any West Berkshire library, including our Mobile Library. See library details and opening hours. We will contact you to arrange collection.
If you are not exactly sure what books you want, you can use our Order & Collect service and staff will then choose a selection of up to 5 books for you. Call 01635 519813 or contact your local library or visit the online catalogue to place your order.
Many of our titles are available as e-books as well, and we have many fantastic e-magazines which you can read for free 24/7. Click here for details.
To receive further information about West Berkshire Libraries' collections, activities and events, sign up for Library news here by adjusting your subscription preferences.
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And finally...
- Our Budget Challenge is being specially extended to Monday, 11 January. Click here to try your hand at setting our Budget. We will look at where everyone chooses to spend the budget, and use this information to help inform how we set budgets in the future.
- Please feel free to forward this email to friends and family - and why not encourage them to sign up to receive this newsletter and any others of interest? Your contacts can sign up here.
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