Coronavirus safety advice

Here is some advice from doctors and health experts on how to reduce the risk of catching coronavirus, and how to deal with it if you or someone you know has it.

How can I prepare?

• Make sure you have sufficient supplies of your regular medication in your home in case you aren’t able to go out for a week or two.
• Have a back-up supply of cleaning products that you can use to disinfect your home.
• Keep a small stockpile of food so that you and the people in your home won’t go hungry if you have to self-isolate.
• Arrange with someone you know who lives nearby to look after each other in case one of you gets sick.

What should I do to keep my home safe?

• Clean surfaces, light switches, door handles, and taps at least once a day with household detergent.
• Wash your hands as soon as you arrive home, and make sure people who visit you do the same. Also wash hands before eating, after using a tissue, after using the toilet, and if you need to touch another person.
• Try to keep gatherings of people to a minimum - this might mean canceling a birthday party, Sunday lunch, or other occasions where you would usually be in a room with other people.

What should I do when I’m out and about?

• If you feel even mildly ill, or have been in contact recently with someone else who has become ill, avoid leaving the house, or going to public places.
• Keep a distance of at least a metre from other people in public.
• Always use a tissue to cover your mouth/nose when coughing.
• Avoid shaking hands, hugging, kissing, or bodily contact with other people.

What should I do if I start to feel ill?

• If you live alone and you have symptoms of coronavirus illness (COVID-19), however mild, stay at home for 7 days from when your symptoms started.
• If you live with others and you are the first in the household to have symptoms of coronavirus, then then you must stay at home for 7days, but all other household members who remain well must stay at home and not leave the house for 14 days. The 14-day period starts from the day when the first person in the house became ill. See explanatory diagram.
• For anyone else in the household who starts displaying symptoms, they need to stay at home for 7 days from when the symptoms appeared, regardless of what day they are on in the original 14 day isolation period. (The ending isolation section has more information, and see the explanatory diagram link above).
• It is likely that people living within a household will infect each other or be infected already. Staying at home for 14 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community.
• If you can, move any vulnerable individuals (such as the elderly and those with underlying health conditions) out of your home, to stay with friends or family for the duration of the home isolation period.
• If you cannot move vulnerable people out of your home, stay away from them as much as possible
• If you have coronavirus symptoms:
  • Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.
  • You do not need to contact 111 to tell them you’re staying at home.
  • Testing for coronavirus is not needed if you’re staying at home.
• Plan ahead and ask others for help to ensure that you can successfully stay at home and consider what can be done for vulnerable people in the household.
• Ask your employer, friends and family to help you to get the things you need to stay at home.
• Wash your hands regularly for 20 seconds, each time using soap and water, or use hand sanitiser.
• If you feel you cannot cope with your symptoms at home, or your condition gets worse, or your symptoms do not get better after 7 days, then use the NHS 111 online coronavirus service. If you do not have internet access, call NHS 111. For a medical emergency dial 999.

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