DETAILED plans on how to prevent the spread of coronavirus across North Hampshire have been unveiled.

Increased testing capacity, bubbles in schools and testing for pupils showing Covid-19 symptoms are among the measures set to be taken across the county.

The news comes as civic chiefs said the number of cases in Hampshire is “lower than the national average” with four cases per 100,000 population.

But county bosses said they are not complacent. Civic chiefs are encouraging parents to send their children to school next months as new measures will be in place.

Students are expected to be grouped into “bubbles” which could be based on year groups or other criteria such as the number of pupils at each school.

Simon  Bryant,  director of Public Health at Hampshire County Council, said should any pupil test positive to Covid-19 there will be  “a dynamic assessment with schools to work out which children would need to stay at home”.

Risks will be assessed and some children might get tested or isolated, Mr Bryant said.

But he added: “We work on a risk assessment. Each school is managing this in a way appropriate to their setting. We work with schools to ensure we can manage any potential outbreak.”

As regards the use of face coverings within schools the authority said it will follow the national guidance, which at the moment does not require school staff and pupils to wear a face mask.

Other measures that will be in place include operating a one-way system around the school site; staggering the start and end of the school day; staggering break times; building time for frequent handwashing in the daily timetable; providing hand sanitiser in strategic areas of the building; additional cleaning of school buildings.

The council said the closure of any school due to coronavirus will be “a last resort action” and only on the advice of the local Public Health England Health Protection Team.

County bosses have also confirmed they are looking at ways to increase testing capacity across the county and that could be done through the use of technology.

Mr Bryant said the authority has already in place five vans as mobile testing units which could test 300 people a day.

“We have a forward plan to ensure that the vans are in the right place,” he said and stressed that further vans are available should they be needed.

Talking about the potential of  local outbreaks across Hampshire, civic chiefs said there is not an exact threshold of cases that would trigger a local outbreak but a number of factors will be considered.

However, they said actions are being taken to prevent the spread of the virus.

Talking about the number of cases county council leader Councillor Keith Mans said: “We are at about four per 100,000 (population). Swindon is getting 45 per 100,000 and they are on a watch list. My view is that we want to ensure that we identify an increase long before it gets to that point so that we can get action at a smaller level.”

Cllr Mans said testing is key and added: “The more testing we can do the better and we are moving in that direction.”