COVID-19 (coronavirus)

Minor injuries units and urgent treatment centre opening times

National lockdown rules and guidance

Please follow these rules with immediate effect.

You must stay at home. This will help protect the NHS and save lives. You may only leave your home for the following reasons:

• shop for basic necessities, for you or a vulnerable person
• go to work, or provide voluntary or charitable services, if you cannot do so from home
• exercise with your household (or support bubble) or one other person, this should be limited to once per day, and you should not travel outside your local area
• meet your support bubble or childcare bubble where necessary, but only if you are legally permitted to form one
• seek medical assistance or avoid injury, illness or risk of harm (including domestic abuse)
• attend education or childcare - for those eligible.

Colleges, primary and secondary schools will remain open only for vulnerable children and the children of critical workers. All other children will learn remotely until February half term. Early Years settings remain open. Higher Education provision will remain online until mid-February for all except future critical worker courses.

If you do leave home for a permitted reason, you should always stay local in the village, town, or part of the city where you live. You cannot leave your home to meet socially with anyone you do not live with or are not in a support bubble with (if you are legally permitted to form one).

For more detail on all the rules and regulations, visit the government website.

Help stop the spread of COVID-19

Practice good hygiene

• wash your hands more often than usual for 20 seconds each time, or use hand sanitiser gel
• avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands
• maintain a social distance of two metres from others
• Wear a face mask over your mouth and nose in public places
• always carry tissues with you and use them to catch your cough or sneeze. Then bin the tissue, and wash your hands, or use a sanitiser gel.

Self-isolate and get tested

The primary symptoms of COVID-19 are:

• high temperature (37.8 degrees or more)
• loss of taste or smell
• new continuous cough.

If you have any of these symptoms please self-isolate and call 119 or visit nhs.uk/coronavirus for a test.

If your test is positive, you must not leave your home at all and not have visitors for 10 days. You will also be asked to provide details of your recent contact to NHS Test and Trace. You must self-isolate if you live with someone who has symptoms.

If you are not experiencing symptoms but have tested positive for COVID-19, self-isolate for at least 10 days, starting from the day the test was taken. If you develop symptoms during this isolation period, restart your 10-day isolation from the day you developed symptoms.

After 10 days, if you still have a temperature you should continue to self-isolate and seek medical advice. You do not need to self-isolate after 10 days if you only have a cough or loss of sense of smell or taste, as these symptoms can last for several weeks after the infection has gone. 

For more information visit the government website. If your symptoms worsen, contact NHS 111 online, or call 111 if you have no internet access.

Easy read information:

• washing hands
• if you are unwell
• looking after your feelings and body.

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COVID-19 app

Protect your loved ones with the official NHS COVID-19 contact tracing app for England and Wales.

Anyone aged 16 or over who lives in England or Wales can use the NHS COVID-19 app. It has a number of features:

• Trace: find out when you've been near other app users who have tested positive for coronavirus.
• Alert: lets you know the level of coronavirus risk in your postcode district.
• Check-in: get alerted if you've visited a venue where you may have come into contact with coronavirus, using a simple QR code scanner. No more form filling.
• Symptoms: check if you have coronavirus symptoms and see if you need to order a test.
• Test: helps you order a test if you need to.
• Isolate: keep track of your self-isolation countdown and access relevant advice.

The NHS COVID-19 app is free to download on your smartphone from the App Store or Google Play. The app runs on proven software developed by Apple and Google, designed so that nobody will know who or where you are. And you can delete your data, or the app, at any time.

Your COVID recovery

Evidence shows that a significant proportion of post COVID-19 patients are likely to have significant on-going health problems, notably breathing difficulties, tiredness and cough, reduced muscle function, reduced ability to undertake physical activity and psychological symptoms such as PTSD and reduced mood status.

Your Covid Recovery is a new NHS website designed to help people recover from the long-term effects of COVID-19 and support them to manage their recovery. It includes information from rehabilitation experts about how to manage on-going symptoms and health needs at home, and signposts to sources of support.

It also includes information on returning to work, and a helpful section for family, friends and carers of people who are recovering.

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