Coronavirus: Seven confirmed cases in East Sussex

The number testing positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) in the county previously stood at two earlier today.The total of confirmed cases in West Sussex has today reached double figures.

Across the UK, 1,950 people have contracted the virus.

An East Sussex County Council spokesman said: “We know that these are worrying times for everyone but we want to reassure people that every effort is being made to keep public services running as smoothly as possible in this unprecedented situation.

“Our intention is to keep reception areas at our offices open for essential callers, but if people don’t need to come in, we’d urge them not to. We’ll ensure all reasonable hygiene and social distancing measures are in place.

“Many of our staff have a public-facing role which will continue. Meanwhile, we’ve asked all staff who can work at home without any impact on services to do so. We’re very familiar with this and many people do it routinely at certain times anyway.

"We’re following the latest government advice, which is that schools should remain open. While the advice is to avoid all but essential visits to care homes, our care workers will of course continue to visit clients, who are some of our most vulnerable residents.”

– Coronavirus, or COVID-19, is an illness which affects the lungs and airways. Symptoms are a high temperature and continuous cough.

– if you live alone and you have symptoms of coronavirus illness (COVID-19), however mild, stay at home for 7 days from when your symptoms started.

– if you live with others and you or one of them have symptoms of coronavirus, then all household members must stay at home and not leave the house for 14 days. The 14-day period starts from the day when the first person in the house became ill.