Keep Safe, Keep Testing.
We know how important it is to protect yourself, your friends and family and the wider community by testing with Lateral Flow Tests.
The demand for the kits has risen dramatically over the past couple of days; however, this is improving. It is recommended that you order online or visit your local pharmacy if possible.
Our Mobile Assisted Testing Team will be at the Kennet Centre next week, 18 to 24 December, to support residents, advise on how to complete your tests, and provide more general information on Vaccinations and Boosters.
You can find them there;
- Saturday 18 December: 10am to 4pm
- Sunday 19 December: 10am to 4pm
- Monday 20 December: 9.30am to 4pm.
- Tuesday 21 December: 9.30am to 1.30pm.
- Wednesday 22 December: 9.30am to 4pm.
- Thursday 23 December: 9.30am to 4pm.
- Friday 24 December: 9.30am to 2pm.
They can offer test kits to residents who have not been able to order test kits online or collect from a pharmacy.
Priority will be given to those households where someone has been advised to test daily via test and trace as a close contact. You can find out more about using LFTs to test daily as a close contact here.
If you are visiting your GP, hospital or vaccination centre or any healthcare setting, please take a Lateral Flow test if possible before attending.
If you feel unwell, please book a PCR test at a testing centre, or order a home testing kit.
We know how busy everyone is in the build-up to Christmas. Can you find the time to get your Booster too?
Getting your Booster can help your immunity shortly after receiving it and make the stress of the festive period a little easier.
If your GP has contacted you to get your Booster vaccination or if you are eligible, please book your appointment. Even away from home, you can still visit any walk-in vaccination centre, find your local one on the NHS website.
We want to thank everyone involved in the organisation and smooth running of the pop-up Vaccination Clinic in Hungerford. Their hard work and fantastic effort meant by the end of Wednesday this week, 3,408 Booster vaccinations had been administered by the team there.
Due to the success of the pop-up, we are pleased to confirm that they will be re-opening for an additional four days;
- Sunday 19 to Wednesday 22 December, from 9.30am to 6.30pm each day.
These are walk-in appointments and cover the following age groups;
- 12 to 15 years old – First Dose Only
- 16 to 17 years old – First and Second doses only (The second dose is given eight weeks after receiving the first dose).
- 18 years and above – First, Second and Booster doses (The second dose is given eight weeks after receiving the first dose, and the Booster dose three months after receiving the second dose)
It is recommended, where possible, that patients have the same type of vaccine for 1st and 2nd doses.
For further information, please visit the NHS site.
Please remember that you cannot receive your Booster if you have tested positive for Covid-19 within the last 28 days.
If you test positive for Covid-19, the NHS Test and Trace team will contact you to tell you that you are positive and need to self-isolate for ten days.
Adults will receive a link to complete their contact tracing information online; if you can complete the form within four to eight hours of receiving the link, you are less likely to receive multiple calls asking for further information.
At present, this online completion process is only available for adults, so contact tracing for under 18’s can only be completed through a phone call. If you are completing for an under 18, we recommend you have as much information as possible on your child’s contacts and movements, as this will speed up the process.
The contact tracing form is a way of collecting information on who your close contacts have been and will help contact tracing get in touch with these people and ask them to complete a PCR test.
Completing this form is essential to help control and manage the spread of Covid-19.
We appreciate that everyone’s time is precious, and by completing this form online, you will save your own time and help stop the spread of Covid-19.
and finally,
we all need to stay safe, protect ourselves and the people around us, and the best way to do that is:
- get fully vaccinated
- wear a mask in enclosed spaces and maintain social distancing
- ensure rooms are ventilated by opening windows and doors
- continue to regularly test, particularly before socialising in groups or visiting vulnerable people
- isolate and get a PCR test if you have symptoms or test positive on a lateral flow device test.
