An extraordinary effort by two councils is enabling those from overseas living or working in Cambridgeshire to access coronavirus advice in their own language.

Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council have created up to 30 advice videos in different languages.

The short videos can be accessed via the councils’ own websites or through their social media channels or on YouTube.

A statement from both councils says the Government’s information about staying at home for all but essential reasons, keeping your distance when you must go out, and washing your hands when you return is vitally important for everyone to know and understand to prevent the spread of the virus.

“We identified that there was a problem reaching some people in our communities with this message who may not have understood the important public health messages, either because they cannot read or understand English or because they cannot access translations,” said the statement.

“As a result, we have worked with people across our communities to produce video messages of this advice in other languages.

“Video blogs have been produced covering 29 different languages so far – with more being added every day - and these are available to view and share on our websites and on all our social media sites.

“People across our communities have been sharing the messages and we are asking other organisations to use them widely to reach as many people as we can. Cambridgeshire Constabulary is already doing this”.

Superintendent Laura Hunt of Cambridgeshire Police said: “Working with our diverse communities to make sure they understand the very important ‘stay at home’ message is a critical part of our work,

“The translation videos produced by the city and county council will prove very useful for police officers when they come across people who struggle to understand the messages in English.

“Our policing style is built on consent and having a positive relationship with the community.

“Therefore, enforcement will be the last resort and we will follow the four-step principles of Engage, Explain, Encourage, Enforce, which we hope will mean we only very rarely have to move to the adoption of an enforcement approach.”

Supt Hunt added: “We will continue to work closely with the councils and all our partners to ensure as many people as possible stay at home.”