Durham's '100% focus' on tackling coronavirus

County Durham has had more than 300 confirmed cases of the disease at time of writing, according to the latest figures, out of about 5,500 in the combined North East and Yorkshire region.

And for Simon Henig, leader of Durham County Council, all his time is now spent dealing with issues either directly or indirectly related to COVID-19.

He said: “Some of that includes things like keeping bin collections going and how we keep doing that safely and the measures we need to take to make sure our workforce is safe.

“It [coronavirus] just covers every aspect you can think of, from schools to adult social care, support for businesses, refuse collection – everything.”

Council bosses have already agreed a host of measures to try and limit the spread of the virus outbreak.

So far this has included cancelling park and rides and garden and bulky waste collection services, closing libraries and delaying pursuit of council tax and business rates debt.

Limits have also been placed on the numbers of people who can attend funeral and wedding services.

The county council has also taken advantage of government aid for businesses, dishing out about £50million to more than 3,500 firms.

Coun Henig added: “It’s really important to do all we can as Durham County Council to help people in the current situation and to work with the government, the health bodies and others through what is an unprecedented situation.

“Local authorities are very important in linking essential care and support.

“It’s important we do all we can as a council and we are trying to do that for all groups across our communities, but especially those who are most vulnerable.”

He also backed plans to delay next month’s (May) scheduled round elections across the country, despite the possible implications this could have for his own Labour Party.

“I don’t think any of us know when normal life will resume, it’s very difficult to say what things will look like,” he added.

“There is a risk of a more lengthy period of more lockdowns, but it’s very difficult to predict what that will look like.”

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