Symptoms of COVID-19

The main symptoms of COVID-19 are:

• 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 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.

If you have any of the main symptoms of COVID-19, even if they are mild:

• Get a PCR test as soon as possible to check if you have COVID-19
• Try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people until you get your test result.

When you should stay at home if you have COVID-19

From Thursday 24 February 2022, you are no longer required by law to self-isolate if you test positive for COVID-19, however, guidance still recommends that you stay at home and avoid contact with other people to help reduce the chance of passing COVID-19 on to others.

Close contact with someone who has COVID-19

From 24 February 2022, you will no longer have to take daily tests or be legally required to self-isolate following contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.

Reducing the risk of COVID-19 spreading

Whilst the remaining domestic restrictions for England have been removed, the government have issued guidelines on steps you can take to reduce the risk of catching and spreading COVID-19:

• Get vaccinated
• Let fresh air in if meeting indoors, or meet outside
• Consider wearing a face covering in crowded, enclosed spaces
• Get tested if you have COVID-19 symptoms
• If positive with COVID-19, stay at home.

COVID-19 vaccinations

Booking your COVID-19 vaccination

You can now book your vaccination appointment online for:

• 1^st and 2^nd doses for people aged 12 years old and over
• Boosters for people ages 16 years old and over
• 3^rd doses and boosters (4^th doses) for people with a severely weakened immune system aged 16 years old and over.

Go to the NHS website for more information and to book your appointment.

If you’ve had a positive COVID-19 test

If you’ve had a positive COVID-19 test, you need to wait before getting any doses of the vaccine. You need to:

• Wait 4 weeks (28 days) if you’re aged 18 years old or over
• Wait 12 weeks (84 days) if you’re aged 12 years old or over
• Wait 4 weeks (28 days) if you’re 12 to 17 years old and at high risk from COVID-19.

This starts from the date you had symptoms, or the date of the positive test if you did not have any symptoms.

Your COVID-19 Vaccination status

An NHS COVID Pass shows your COVID-19 vaccination details or test results. You may be asked to show your NHS COVID Pass to travel abroad or at events and venues asking for proof of COVID-19 status.

You can get your NHS COVID Pass digitally through the NHS App or the online NHS COVID Pass service by visiting the NHS website. 

• Government website  - to book a free PCR test to check if you have Coronavirus. 
• NHS website for information and advice.