More than 1,000 residents in Kingston have volunteered to help support others in the borough amid the coronavirus epidemic.

Kingston Council (RBK) announced the figures on Monday (March 30) in reference to the Kingston Stronger Together umbrella group they helped set up with other volunteer organizations in the borough.

Kingston Stronger Together offers a platform for volunteer groups to coordinate their actions and others to sign up in order to support the most vulnerable residents in the borough while helping slow the spread of Covid-19 coronavirus.

On Monday, RBK's new Council Leader Caroline Kerr urged residents who needed support to get in touch so that volunteers could help them while 'lockdown' measures remain in place:

"We are primarily focusing on people who haven't got support from their neighbours or their friends or their families, and in particular on people who are self-isolating, either because they have got symptoms of the virus or because they have been advised by the NHS that they should stay home for 12 weeks," Cllr Kerr said.

"More than a thousand people in Kingston have volunteered to help as part of Kingston Stronger Together, so if you are somebody at home who needs help with delivery of medicines or food, or you need other care, please get in touch," she added.

RBK said they were directly contacting residents already known to be in need of support.

They made an online form for anyone requiring assistance to fill out, and have also set up a hotline for those without internet access: 020 8547 5000.

Reports on social media suggested that homeless volunteer groups in Kingston have meanwhile helped find accommodation for over 30 rough sleepers in the borough.

That followed the government's call that all rough sleepers be housed by local authorities with the help of homelessness charities over the weekend.

Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness (KCAH) tweeted that nine more people had been found temporary accommodation on Monday.

That brought the reported total to 31, added to the 22 rough sleepers the leading homelessness charity previously indicated had been given shelter on March 29.