Coronavirus prevention and health advice
National Lockdown restrictions have been eased
COVID-19 restrictions in Kirklees tells you more about what this means.
Staying healthy
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Continue to follow this guidance
- Meet in well-ventilated areas where possible, such as outdoors or indoors with windows open.
- Wear a face covering where you come into contact with people you don't normally meet in enclosed and crowded spaces.
- Wash your hands with soap and water or using hand sanitiser regularly throughout the day.
- Cover your nose and mouth when you cough and sneeze.
- Stay at home if you are unwell, to reduce the risk of passing on other illnesses onto friends, family, colleagues, and others in your community.
- Consider your individual risks, such as clinical vulnerabilities and vaccination status.
Hands
Wash your hands with soap and water or using hand sanitiser regularly throughout the day.
Although COVID-19 is resilient and quick to spread, it does have its weaknesses - one of those being its outer wall. Lucky for us coronaviruses have an enveloped cell wall, so when you rub your hands together with soap and water you breakdown the cell wall of the virus and wash it away down the sink.
One of the easiest and most effective ways to stop the spread of COVID-19 and other viruses is to wash your hands regularly for 20 seconds, especially when you return home and before eating.
Face
You are advised to wear a face covering where you come into contact with people you don't normally meet in enclosed and crowded spaces.
By wearing a face covering you're helping to prevent infected droplets travelling into the air from your nose and mouth when you breathe. This becomes particularly important if you have COVID-19 but don't know it (asymptomatic). You are also protecting yourself from breathing in infected droplets from someone else, who may be asymptomatic. It's important your face covering fits snuggly and covers your mouth and nose.
Space
Meet in well-ventilated areas where possible, such as outdoors or indoors with windows open.
Some people may choose to limit the close contact they have with people to reduce the risk of catching or spreading COVID-19, particularly if they are clinically extremely vulnerable. It is important to respect and be considerate of those who may wish to take a more cautious approach as restrictions are lifted.
Isolate and get a PCR test if you have symptoms
Most people with coronavirus have at least 1 of these symptoms:
- A high temperature - this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
- A new, continuous, dry cough - this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
- A loss or change to your sense of smell or taste - this means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal.
Get a rapid flow test if you don't have symptoms
If you do not have COVID-19 symptoms you can take regular, free rapid flow tests.
Even if you don't have symptoms you may be infectious and could spread the infection to others. This is called being asymptomatic.
Getting tested helps to reduce the spread of the virus in your community.
How to get a rapid flow test:
Rapid lateral flow testingFollow Test and Trace instructions
NHS Test and Trace will contact you if you have come into contact with someone who has the virus.
