Are you leaving home regularly to go to work?
Parents and carers who are key workers or leaving home regularly to go to work are being urged to have regular rapid result tests to help track cases of Coronavirus and drive down transmission rates.
This is because up to one in three people who are infected with Covid-19 have no symptoms and could be spreading the disease without knowing it
Sites have been set up across Peterborough and Cambridgeshire offering rapid result tests to people aged 18 and over who have no symptoms of Coronavirus. People are being urged to take a test twice a week.
The process of taking a test takes on average 15 minutes from arrival to departure. Results are known within an hour.
To book a test visit www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/rapidtesting or www.peterborough.gov.uk/rapidtesting
Dr Liz Robin, Director of Public Health for Cambridgeshire, said: “We not only need people to have these tests regularly if they are leaving home for work, we also need them to act responsibly when they get their result. If you test positive, please isolate at home with other members of your household and ask for help if you need it. There is lots we can do to help you to self-isolate, including offering grants to those who will struggle financially or help with accessing food shopping, fetching medicines and so on.
“The NHS Test and Trace Service will also get in touch with you to offer advice and ask about contacts. If you test negative, please continue to follow national guidance and limit all non-essential contact with others. While the rapid test identifies many people with the virus it doesn’t identify everyone - so following the lockdown rules and other Covid-safe behaviours is essential even if you have a negative test.”
People with symptoms will not be tested at the rapid testing sites. Anyone with one or more of these symptoms – a high temperature, a new, continuous cough, or a loss or change to sense of smell or taste – should book a test at nhs.uk/coronavirus or by calling 119.