Don't get complacent about self-isolation rules say Wigan health bosses

Officials in Wigan are warning people it's still vital to get a COVID test and self-isolate if you gave coronavirus symptoms, even if you have been vaccinated.

Infection rates across the borough have doubled in the past week and now stand at 85.8 cases per 100,000 people.

Health bosses are worried that some people are failing to self isolate after suffering from COVID symptoms and then passing the virus to others.

Dr Tim Dalton is the Chair of Wigan Borough Clinical Commissioning group he told us:

"People who have the disease are mixing with people who do not have the disease."

"A lot of that is where people are presuming they've got a cold they're not presuming they've got COVID."

"By testing and by isolating until you have the results of the test we will stop this disease from spreading."

There's also a specific message to parents ahead of children returning to school on Monday after the half-term break.

Tim said: "This disease is circulating in younger adults and children."

"The normal historic advice would be to look after yourself, take some paracetamol, take some time off and now it's also to get an early PCR test."

"People, especially when they have a child with a call for a temperature or a snotty nose, which is very common in children now, are presuming that it's nothing to do with COVID."

"In reality, we need to keep getting people to and get a PCR test and then having that excluded COVID we can then work out what else it could be."

"Until this disease goes away, which is a long time away from now we need to adopt this new approach of if you get symptoms, get a test and isolate we have the results of the test."

What are the symptoms?

The official symptoms for COVID-19 in adults according to the NHS 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 these symptoms, even if you are vaccinated, you should book a PCR test through the NHS website as soon as possible and self-isolate until you get told what to do next.

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