Naturally, the easing of restrictions will come as a wave of relief to most of us, the thought of enjoying time with our friends and family and being able to look forwards to our regular activities after such a long time will be welcomed with open arms!
While this is an exciting time, it is important to stay mindful of safety as restrictions ease and remember to take care of those around you.
If you are living at home or in private accommodation and either coming into a college centre or going to placement, you need to use a lateral flow rapid test to test yourself regularly.
Remember, a negative result does not mean you do not have to still follow all the rules. Hands, face and space still applies. About 1 in 3 people with COVID-19 do not have symptoms but can still infect others.
You should do a rapid test twice a week (every three to four days) to check if you have the virus. If you test positive you should self-isolate. This will help stop the virus spreading. It is also wise to have the result confirmed by completing a PCR test which can be completed at a PCR test centre or obtained online.
This usually involves rubbing a long cotton bud (swab) over your tonsils (or where they would have been) and for some tests inside your nose.
The tests can give you a result in 30 minutes. They use a device similar to a pregnancy test and do not need to be sent to a lab. The rapid test can be completed at home or at a rapid lateral flow test site.
You can collect up to 2 packs of 7 rapid tests from a local pharmacy or test site.
If you do tests at home, you will need to report your results online or on the phone.
Find other ways to get rapid lateral flow tests on NHS.UK.
You should: report rapid lateral flow test results the day you or someone in your household takes the test, no matter what the result is.
If you are going out into placement, you are now an important part of the team. With this in mind, we have put the following video together to remind you of a few hints and tips on keeping everyone in the practice as safe as possible.