Testing and ensuring people are following hand washing, wearing masks and social distancing will stop coronavirus spreading.

That is the view of officials in Medway as they struggle to contain the virus while admitting it has “spread like wildfire” through the community.

Case rates are now the highest in the country overtaking Swale to the unwanted top spot with the infection rate now 602.8 per 100,000 people, according to the latest government figures published today.

James Williams, director of public health at Medway Council, said the spread of the virus in the Towns was mostly down to household transmissions.

"Rates were among the lowest in the country, now it's the highest. It can happen and that's the way in which the disease can quickly spread through our community.

"Those messages we keep repeating need to be acknowledged again. It's within our power to stop this."

Speaking at the Chattenden Community Centre, one of three sites for key workers to get tests to identify symptom-free carriers of the virus, Mr Williams said the increased testing and rules would bring down the virus.

It was also revealed today a fourth site at Rochester Cathedral will open on Wednesday.

Cllr Alan Jarrett, leader of Medway Council, said: "We hope to identify people who don't have symptoms but out there in the community spreading it without realising.

"It's to identify those and contain the spread. It's worked elsewhere and we expect it to here.

"Once it got out into the community and with a population of 280,000 it's a lot of people and it's spread like wildfire really."

But asked whether the hand washing, face coverings and social distancing rules were enough, Mr Williams said: "It's very challenging and boring and wears people down, I get that. But that's the only way we can break this cycle.

"I wouldn't say people aren't listening. They will act using their own conscience.

"Sometimes it's difficult for people to keep doing the basic things and will have that lapse in concentration."

In response to questions about whether the hands, face and space message was not working, the leader said: "I don't think we can say it's not working because we don't know what the situation would have been otherwise.

"I think the message has been working.

"There's a lot of coming and going – in to Medway to work, going out to work, using the hospital – and people are moving around the whole time. This spread just happens."

Mr Williams added he was aware of "small numbers" of people not adhering to the rules but paid credit to the "resilience" of residents.

"We need to keep our nerve and the vaccine will take time to get through all the population," said Mr Williams. "Those key messages are the key things to protect yourself. Coronavirus is deadly.

"Maybe people had not understood how quickly it could grip hold and now we're there people are working together.

"We can see rapid turnaround and changes in terms of the positivity [the proportion of people testing positive after being tested].

"We're seeing this surge but will test as long as required to keep our population safe.

"I can't answer how long it will take because it's down to our community and Medway people coming forward.

"The results have been well beyond our expectations. We will work quickly.

"The rate may increase but that's good because we're finding people and we will keep doing this for as long as is necessary."

Asked if there should be more localised rules to meet the demand of the rate of the virus spreading in higher numbers in specific areas like Medway and across Kent, Cllr Jarrett said: "You could say that but Medway not many weeks ago was very low.

"Had there been a different approach it would have proven to be folly. It's my opinion the government approach is the right one.

"We've got people out on the High Street giving people advice and visiting businesses to ensure they've got everything in place.

"Keeping the message of hands, face and distance is all we can do and trying to get people to comply.

"The level of compliance is good based on my personal observations.

"But there is a dichotomy of when people can't sit in a restaurant yet pack into a department store."

The council leader denied the authority had lost control of the virus in Medway.

"If we can be charged with that then so can every authority in the land. This is a worldwide pandemic like we've never seen before and we're all learning.

"It's a huge positive we're all working together to control this."

Medway Maritime Hospital remains under significant pressure with half its beds occupied by Covid patients and has been rapidly increasing with transmissions across wards.

Asked whether there was more to be done by the NHS to bring the spread of the virus under control, Cllr Jarrett said: "I'm not in a position about what the hospital is doing well or not well.

"They are under enormous pressure and we're seeing issues with the council placing people in the community when they come out of hospital and seeing a slight dislocation of those flows.

"We're working with the hospital to alleviate that and we're doing all we can to support the hospital particularly transferring them into the community.

"I think they are almost at capacity and are getting mutual aid and are doing everything they can, to me as an outsider looking in."

The Medway Resilience Unit is made up of 145 soldiers and other military personnel to run the four sites across Medway – at Chattenden, Rochester Cathedral, The Oast in Rainham and the university campus in Chatham.

Mr Williams said the military support had been requested by the council to enable its plan to be initiated quickly.

"I developed this plan and the military are here to deliver that. It's Medway Council that is in control and we're working in partnership with the military.

"If you need a job done quickly then the British military are the best to do that."

He said it was vital for testing to find people without symptoms spreading the virus.

"We know many people may be infected and symptomless. By finding those people we can break that chain, that's the evidence we're utilising.

"We're going into areas where people have got it but don't know."

Lt Col James Cackett, the unit's commanding officer, said while delivering the Covid test sites was a new experience for his teams it was "in many ways this is no different to many other activities we do in our day to day business".

He said: "People will book on to register a slot for a test and then turn up and guided by a soldier to the registration desk. They will be guided through that process and coached through how to take a swap.

"One of my soldiers will do the processing and then record that to the central database and will receive their result from the NHS Test and Trace app shortly after leaving the site.

"This is new to us but what's really important is that we seek to learn before we go and do anything..."

"The logistic function is one we're used to and any force needs to be sustained. We make sure we have the right levels of tests and protective equipment."

The Medway Resilience Force is made up of five regiments from 29 Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Search Group and is made up of many members of the Royal Engineers who have trained at Brompton Barracks in Gillingham.

It also includes soldiers from the Royal Signals, Royal Army Veterinary Corps and Royal Logistic Corps.

"This is new to us but what's really important is that we seek to learn before we go and do anything and that applies to any task," Lt Col Cackett added.

"We've reached to our colleagues delivering whole town testing in Liverpool and the Royal Air Force in Merthyr Tydfil to learn lessons from their experience.

"Some of those have come to help our training before we opened on Saturday.

"The council have done an awful lot of preparation for this and they have established the sites were to deliver."

He said he hoped the community would be strengthened by the presence of the military at the sites and their links to the area would be positive.

"Whilst people might be strange to see so many people in uniform around, we're of this community as well and many have trained here," he said.

"One of my soldiers' families lives here and it's really good to be giving something back to this community at a time when it's needed.

"Speaking personally, I served twice here and I called this community home for a number of years.

"To operate in an area we know is pretty unusual because normally we're going overseas to places we don't have much experience of.

"That really helps because that bond with the community we're supporting and seeing come through for tests is a lot stronger."

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