The test kits for use at home (and in some test centers) are supplied and processed by Randox under a £133 million contract,[34] with logistics from Amazon[35] and Royal Mail[36] and identity verification by the US consumer credit agency TransUnion. [37] Randox has a laboratory in Northern Ireland, although as of May 2020 some samples were processed due to a lack of capacity in the United States. [38] Special arrangements have been made with Royal Mail for the return of home test kits via designated priority post office boxes, identified by special stickers. [39] If you have symptoms of COVID-19, you should self-isolate while waiting for your test result. If your PCR test is negative, you do not need to self-isolate. This does not guarantee that you are not sick with COVID-19, so you should follow the advice on how to avoid contracting and spreading COVID-19. Read more instructions on what to do if your test is negative. If you are testing because you are a close contact and are not exempt from self-isolation (see exceptions below) and you have been informed by NHS Test and Trace that you are legally obliged to self-isolate, you will need to self-isolate pending your test result, and you must continue to do so if you have a negative result. This is because you could still become infectious during the 10-day isolation period. If you need help booking a test or have questions about your test results, you can call 119 from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
By mid-September, more than 11% of people living in England had been tested at least once. [104] At the beginning of December, it was already 20%. [105] If you are identified as a contact of someone outside your household who has tested positive, you must self-isolate for up to 10 full days after contact with the person who tested positive for COVID-19. That is, if your last contact with them took place at any time on the 15th of the month, your isolation period will end at 11:59 p.m. on the 25th. Workplace CSD involves performing a daily lateral flow test for 7 days at an approved test site at the workplace or, on days when they are not tested at an approved test site, isolating at home. The government has clarified that self-isolation after being “pinged” by the NHS COVID-19 app is not a legal requirement, but nearly six in ten Britons (59%) believe it is. Only a quarter of respondents (25%) correctly acknowledged that NHS app pings are not legally binding. Updated to reflect the introduction of daily contact testing in workplaces. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, testing for infections in England was carried out in laboratories run by Public Health England or the NHS (the latter was often located in hospitals and reported the results to PHE`s surveillance system). [35] In early April 2020, the government reserved the capacity of these laboratories to test patients and NHS staff, calling this the “first pillar” of its screening strategy. [40] The guidelines have been revised for clarity.
In addition, there is a new section on collecting customer and visitor data for NHS Test and Trace. The section “If an employee develops symptoms and requests a test” has been supplemented with the following information: If an interaction between 2 people took place via a plexiglass screen (or equivalent screen), this would not be considered sufficient contact. Contact tracers do not consider the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) as a mitigation when assessing whether a recent contact is likely to have risked transmission of the virus. From 9 April 2021, NHS Test and Trace has made rapid lateral flow tests for COVID-19 antigen available to anyone in England, regardless of symptoms or occupation, in anticipation of a further relaxation of social distancing rules. It has become possible for each person to order a box of seven tests out of Gov.uk free of charge. These are delivered by a night tracking service, with delivery possible via a standard home mailbox. The Department of Health and Social Care has encouraged the British to self-test twice a week for asymptomatic cases, which would be up to 1 in 3 infections. [71] Under the self-segregation rules, it is a criminal offence to breach the legal duty to self-isolate unless a person has a reasonable excuse for the violation. On 19 July 2021, the government announced that frontline NHS and social care staff with double vaccinations would have a “reasonable excuse” for not complying with a self-isolation notification when travelling to work if their absence could result in a significant risk of harm.
However, the government did not have the authority to specify what would or would not constitute a reasonable excuse for violating the legal obligation to self-isolate. The Self-Isolation Order contains no provision for the Secretary of State to define or interpret more precisely the meaning of “reasonable excuses”, and the government should not use non-statutory guidance to fill loopholes in the law. The programme was presented by Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Welfare, at the daily UK Government press briefing on 23 April, when he stated that 18,000 contract trackers would be recruited; At that time, the program was called “Test, Track and Trace”. [73] At the May 4 briefing, Hancock stated that he hoped the system would be in place by the middle of the month and that 3,000 of the recruits would be medical personnel. [74] It was reported that Serco and Sitel were hired to provide 15,000 call center workers who would have short training periods, and Hancock was criticized for not using about 5,000 environmental health workers in local authorities. [75] As of April 2020, Ceredigion Council had developed its own contact tracing system with locally trained staff and volunteers, with better results. [76] The recommendation on self-isolation of people with coronavirus (COVID-19) has changed.