It may be that as the weather gets colder we are seeing the start of a spike in cases of the virus. For this reason we wanted to remind all employees of the need to be vigilant and do what they can to minimise the risk of the virus spreading – please continue to maintain good hand washing and sanitising practices, and ensure ventilation of enclosed spaces.

In particular, please remember if you have symptoms or test positive for Coronavirus, do not come into work – this is very important as it will help reduce the risk of your colleagues, contractors and those around you coming into contact with the virus. Please be considerate of others and remember the increased threat to those who have a compromised immune system.

The NHS advise that, if you have COVID-19, you can pass on the virus to other people for up to 10 days from when your infection starts. Many people will no longer be infectious to others after 5 days.

You should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for 5 days. Avoid meeting people at higher risk from COVID-19 for 10 days, especially if their immune system means they’re at higher probability of serious illness from COVID-19, even if they’ve had a COVID-19 vaccine. This starts from the day after you did the test.

If you are feeling unwell and do not test positive for COVID-19 and do not feel well enough to go to work and do your normal activities, you should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people.

Avoid meeting people at higher risk from COVID-19, especially if their immune system means they’re at higher risk of serious illness from COVID-19, even if they’ve had a COVID-19 vaccine. You can go back to your normal activities if you feel well enough to do so and do not have a high temperature.

Please also remember that all cases of Coronavirus must be notified to your Line Manager and the Health & Safety team at the earliest opportunity. This procedure still applies to those who are working remotely, even if they do not need to be absent from work.

All COVID-19 related absences / self-isolation should be logged via the dedicated online form, accessible here, and absences recorded on SAP as you would do normally.