Covid 19 Frequently Asked Questions

f you have been contacted by NHS Test and Trace and/ or a close contact who has tested positive and asked to self-isolate, then you must self-isolate and follow the advice.

If you have not been contacted and do not have symptoms, then you do not need to self-isolate.

Anyone with coronavirus symptoms can get a test. Coronavirus symptoms are:

• a high temperature
• a new, continuous cough
• a loss or change to your sense of smell or tasteIf you have these symptoms, get a test done as soon as possible.
• www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing-and-tracing/get-a-test-to-check-if-you-have-coronavirus/

OR

Call 119

• You must stay at home while you are waiting for your test results
• That means not going to work, not going on public transport, not going out to the shops or the supermarket and not going out socialising

• You will receive a text message to say you have tested positive.

• You’ll be contacted by NHS Test and Trace who will ask you for your contracts

• You may also be contacted more than once because you might have been named as a contact of other people who have tested positive.
• Because of ongoing work to try to contain the spread of COVID-19 in Sunderland you may also be contacted by Sunderland City Council to try and understand the links between cases. At this stage you will not be asked to give details of who you have been in contact with, only where you’ve been in the previous 48 hours before onset of symptoms and 10 days after.

Call 119

No, not unless advised by NHS Test and Trace, Local Authority or the NHS.

Self-isolate for at least 10 days from the onset of your symptoms or date of test (if asymptomatic). You can stop self-isolating after 10 days if either:

• you do not have any symptoms
• you just have a cough or changes to your sense of smell or taste – these can last for weeks after the infection has gone.

People to self-isolate if they have any of these symptoms after 10 days:

• a high temperature or feeling hot and shivery
• a runny nose or sneezing
• feeling or being sick
• diarrhoea

Only stop self-isolating when these symptoms have gone.

This is because it can take 14 days for symptoms to appear.

The 14 days starts from:

• when the first person in your home or support bubble started having symptoms
• the day they were tested, if they have not had symptoms – but if they get symptoms after they were tested, self-isolate for a further 14 days from when their symptoms started.

If someone has tested positive their household members have to self-isolate for 14 days. You should self-isolate for 14 days if you live with (or are in a support bubble with) someone who:

• has symptoms of coronavirus and tested positive, had an unclear result or did not have a test
• tested positive but has not had symptoms

Household contacts can stop self-isolating after 14 days if they do not get symptoms.

They should self-isolate for 10 days from when their symptoms started (or if they did get tested when asymptomatic from the date of their test). This might mean they self-isolating for longer than 14 days overall.

If you and your household are isolating because you are experiencing coronavirus symptoms, you and your household are able to end self-isolation early if you receive a negative test.

However, if you are isolating because you live with someone who has symptoms, you must continue to isolate for 14 days even if you receive a negative test. You may only end isolation early if the person with symptoms in your household receives a negative test.

If you are isolating because you have been contacted by NHS Test and Trace or because you are required to under public health measures under international travel, then you must continue to isolate for 14 days even if you receive a negative test.

Someone is considered infectious 2 days prior to the onset of symptoms, and 10 days after onset of symptoms.  (If asymptomatic use date of positive test).

A ‘contact’ is a person who has been close to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 anytime from 2 days before the person was symptomatic up to 10 days from onset of symptoms (this is when they are infectious to others).

A contact can be:

• people who spend significant time in the same household as a person who has tested positive for COVID-19
• sexual partners.
• a person who has had face-to-face contact (within one metre and no time limit), with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, including:

• being coughed on
• having a face-to-face conversation within one metre
• having skin-to-skin physical contact, or

• contact within one metre for one minute or longer without face-to-face contact
• a person who has been within 2 metres of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 for more than 15 minutes
• a person who has travelled in a small vehicle with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 or in a large vehicle or plane near someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 Where an interaction between 2 people has taken place through a Perspex (or equivalent) screen, this would not be considered sufficient contact, provided that there has been no other contact such as any of those indicated above.

NHS Test and Trace will contact you by email, text or phone. Text messages will come from NHStracing. Calls will come from 0300 0135000. Children under 18 will be contacted by phone wherever possible and asked for their parent or guardian’s permission to continue the call.

You will be contacted by the NHS Test and Trace service if you test positive for coronavirus (COVID-19). You will be asked where you’ve been recently and who you’ve been in close contact with. This will help the NHS contact anyone who may have caught the virus from you.

You’ll be asked to sign in to the NHS Test and Trace contact tracing website at https://contact-tracing.phe.gov.uk.

On the contact tracing website, you’ll be asked for information including:

• your name, date of birth and postcode
• if you live with other people
• any places you’ve been recently, such as a workplace or school
• names and contact details of any people you were in close contact with in the 48 hours before your symptoms started (if you know these details)

If you cannot use the contact tracing website, you’ll be asked for this information over the phone.

The NHS Test and Trace service will not:

• ask for bank details or payments
• ask for details of any other accounts, such as social media
• ask you to set up a password or PIN number over the phone
• ask you to call a premium rate number, such as those starting 09 or 087

All information you provide to the NHS Test and Trace service is confidential. No one who is contacted will be told your identity. Anyone you’ve been in close contact with will be told to stay at home (self-isolate) for 14 days.

This is because it can take up to 14 days for coronavirus symptoms to appear.

Only get a test if you have been contacted by NHS Test and Trace, local authority or NHS and told to do so or you develop symptoms. Anyone with coronavirus symptoms can get a test.

Coronavirus symptoms are:

• a high temperature
• a new, continuous cough
• a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste

For information on questions such as:

• What should I still avoid doing?
• Can I visit people indoors?
• How many people am I allowed to meet with outdoors?
• Can I share a private vehicle with someone from another household?
• Can I stay overnight in someone else’s home?
• Can I look after my grandchildren?
• Can I gather in larger groups for any reason?
• Do I have to wear a face covering in public?
• Do I need to stay 2 metres apart – or 1 metre?
• Should people wear face coverings on public transport?
• Will a face covering stop me getting COVID-19?

Please visit the Government website on: www.gov.uk/coronavirus.