Coronavirus cases are rising in Kington, the council has warned, and residents are being urged to take advise aimed at stopping the spread of the virus seriously.

Kingston Council (RBK) warned residents Wednesday (August 19) that the infection rate in the borough was "as high as it was in May" and said the situation could get even worse unless everyone takes precautions against the spread of the virus.

According to the latest government data, six new cases of Covid-19 coronavirus were confirmed in Kingston between August 9 and August 15.

Three of the cases confirmed were reported in the Kingston East and Norbiton West postal area, while a further three were confirmed in neighbouring Kingston Hill.

In addition, four more cases of the virus were confirmed over the same time period in the Motspur Park area that straddles Kingston and Merton.

Kingston Council Leader Caroline Kerr urged residents to "take this seriously" in order to avoid a further surge in the numbers of people becoming infected in the borough.

"Kingston's infection rate is going up," Cllr Kerr warned.

"It's now as high as it was in May and we're going to have to take this seriously if we're going to stop it spreading again.

"That means washing your hands frequently and for 20 seconds at a time.

"It means wearing a face mask that covers your nose as well as your mouth, even though I know it's uncomfortable.

"And it means maintaining a social distance of two metres wherever you can," she added.

Cllr Kerr meanwhile pointed out that residents should not panic and urged anyone with symptoms of a new continuous cough, high temperature or loss of taste or smell to get tested.

Other faces in the community rallied in support of the council's message encouraging residents to take prevention measures like mask wearing seriously.

One of those was Jon Tolley, who owns Kingston's renowned record shop Banquet Records and also sits as a councillor on Kingston Council.

"Like you I want to get back to gigs, get back to having a normal shop and I want to get back to football matches as soon as we can, but we can't unless social distancing is done properly," he said.

"We still need to be two metres apart unless there are mitigating factors, and one of those factors is the mask," Cllr Tolley pointed out.

A large number of academic studies including one published in the last few days have pointed to the efficiency of face masks in stopping the transmission of coronavirus.

The latest study published by the University of Edinburgh's Department of Engineering showed that if somebody is coughing or talking, and wearing a mask, there is 10,000 times less droplet transmission to two metres away.

"Wear (a face mask) when indoors," Tolley urged Kingstonians in the video message posted by RBK.

"Wear it properly!" He added "Wear it over your nose (and mouth)".

"Remember, some people can't wear masks for a variety of reasons. Don't be harsh on them, Don't judge them. Just let's do our bit," Cllr Tolley said.

Click here to chart the latest confirmed cases of coronavirus in England by postcode.