WITH the arrival of a new variant of Covid-19 there have been spot checks on shops and businesses in Ludlow and south Shropshire.

Shropshire Council’s health protection team is working with the Health and Safety Executive to make sure businesses have measures in place to help minimise the spread of coronavirus.

During the spot checks, which started this week the health teams were providing advice and guidance to manage risk and protect workers, customers and visitors.

However, if businesses are not managing this, action will be taken.

This can range from the provision of specific advice, issuing enforcement notices, or stopping certain work practices until they are made safe.

The checks will focus on hospitality businesses in the run up to Christmas.

As part of its activity, HSE will also check that businesses have measures in place to manage work-related stress and to support workers.

There is concerns that vaccines may be less effective against the new variant and that is may spread more easily than previous versions of the virus.