Coronavirus cases in Richmond "are genuinely down to really low numbers of cases", the town's director of public health said.

But Shannon Katiyo added: "We're not out of the woods yet".

Speaking on Richmond Council's new podcast, Talk Richmond, Mr Katiyo discussed how the town is working to avoid a second peak of coronavirus and how NHS Test and Trace is working.

He told host councillor Jim Millard (Lib Dems, Hampton Wick) that Richmond has "come on a long journey with coronavirus".

"We had instances where we were having at the peak up to 19 cases being notified within a day.

"We're nowhere near that now – we continue to watch the situation really closely, monitoring our figures really closely on a daily basis, and we are genuinely down to really low numbers of cases, which we might refer to as sporadic cases."

Latest number of cases in Richmond

The most recent data for Monday, July 20, showed there have been 539 cases of coronavirus in the borough during the pandemic.

There were only three new cases identified in Richmond on the government's data tracker in the past seven days.

Mr Katiyo emphasised the importance of following social distancing measures to residents.

"We're not out of the woods yet, and while there has been relaxation to some of the measures, we all need to continue to socially distance.

Better levels of public hygiene

"Good hand hygiene – I think this is a permanent life-saving skill that we've all learned.

"So, whether we've got coronavirus or not, we need to keep washing those hands all the time."

He added: "There are other measures that have come into place, for example around wearing face coverings in public transport or in other confined spaces where social distancing is maybe not so easy to achieve.

"And again, you know this is a legal requirement, but also our personal and public duty to do so, we need to follow that."

He also emphasised the importance of the Test and Trace programme and booking a test on the NHS website if you have symptoms, and staying at home if you develop the virus or have been in contact with someone who has.

According to Mr Katiyo, the Test and Trace system is "working really well" for Richmond, despite some criticisms from other councils about delays releasing crucial pillar 2 data from mobile and home tests.

"As a local public health team, we are linked into this wider system so it's really helpful for us to understand what's happening within Richmond and with our local residents.

"And if needed then we would collaborate with Public Health England and other partners to all sort of wade into that response and ensure that we protect residents and we stop any further spread of infection," he said.

Shannon Katiyo's career and how he keeps healthy

Mr Katiyo officially joined as the borough's Director of Public Health at the height of the pandemic in April after having served as an interim.

Before joining Richmond Council, he worked in the Public Health England Centre of Infectious Disease Surveillance and Control where he helped to prepare the country's "cold weather plan" to protect the vulnerable as well as working on tackling tuberculosis infection in detention settings.

He said it has been a "really challenging time" to be appointed, and he has "really long days", but that routine and breaks have really helped.

"I wake up quite early in my day starts just after five in the morning, and I go for a four mile run.

"I tried to do that on at least four days a week and then give myself a little bit of a break and then I think that just helps to to calm me and set me up for the day, lowers my blood pressure and I'm ready to face the challenges of today."

He recommends that residents develop healthy routines as they continue to work from home, including carving out some space for a stretch and a break, and doing more home cooking with plenty of vegetables.

Looking ahead to further easing of lockdown restrictions, he said it is important for residents to get help from the NHS if they need it.

"We now have good measures in place to allow services to reopen in a safe way and potentially provide people with life-saving treatment or urgent treatment that they need," he said.

However, he did express some concern about people not getting routine immunisations and mental health issues.

"Of course there are other diseases about, in addition to Covid, and that's really important," he said.

"A lot of people have been feeling isolated or lonely, there are people who've been feeling anxious, depressed, either as existing conditions or, you know, as a result of Covid and through the turn of time I think this will come to the fore and we will need to ensure those people can access services."