Town councillors to prepare contingency plan to offset coronavirus threat in Sudbury

Town councillors will devise a contingency plan to mitigate the potential threat of the coronavirus in Sudbury, as cases are expected to reach an epidemic in the UK.

Public Health England has confirmed that 373 people in the UK have tested positive for Covid-19, while six patients have died from the disease in British hospitals.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak a pandemic.

Highlighting the seriousness of the outbreak, which was first detected in Wuhan, China, where 80,754 people have since tested positive for the disease, Oliver Forder emphasised the importance of putting precautionary measures in place.

“I don’t think it’s unreasonable for us to make a contingency plan should circumstances worsen,” he said during a meeting of Sudbury Town Council on Tuesday.

Cllr Forder stated that the authority owed the public a duty of care to ensure it fully protected their health and that alternative options for future council meetings, such as video conference calls, should be explored.

“We should put in place a strategy for holding meetings remotely in the case it is no longer appropriate for us to meet,” he said.

Pledging her support, Labour councillor Louise Fowler said: “We do need to start putting an outline plan together so that, if things do get worse over the next couple of weeks, we are prepared.”

Cllr Fowler suggested a group of councillors could form a working group to discuss various options on how best to approach the issue.

Deputy town clerk Jodie Budd highlighted the importance of practising proper hygiene, while adding that Public Health England had advised that employers were not expected to put in place any special restrictions on staff awaiting test results for the virus.

Should coronavirus pose a threat to the region, Jan Osborne, Babergh District Council’s cabinet member for housing, said a system had already been put in place by the authority to ensure council tenants and members of the community deemed vulnerable received key support.

She added that Suffolk County Council had also established a contingency plan.

Steve Hall, who represents Sudbury South, asked whether an action management plan had been established by the town council in the event of any crisis.

In response, town clerk Jacqui Howells said: “We have got an emergency plan. We know how the office would operate if there was a terrorist attack or that sort of thing, so it’s as and when emergencies happen.”

She added that, in the event of any emergency, the authority would work closely with Babergh District Council.

With cases of coronavirus on the rise, shoppers across the UK have been panic-buying key household items.

Sudbury Tourism Information Centre warned against stockpiling on its notice board, with supplies of goods, such as toilet paper, running low in supermarkets across the town.