SOLIHULL is seeing more than 1,000 new cases of Covid-19 each week says the borough’s director of public health.
That, says Ruth Tennant, is around 500 infections per 100,000 of populations, and although the rate of increase is slowing, it’s still going up.
“It is crystal clear that the new variant is much easier to catch and infecting more people which is why the lockdown measures are so important,” she said.
She is urging businesses to support as many staff as possible to work from home and also to ensure those who have to come in are working in a Covid secure environment.
“If staff have symptoms they need to stay at home, get tested and self-isolate for 10 days,” she said.
“Contacts of workplace cases must self-isolate for ten days unless they are being tested daily under a nationally agreed pilot.”
Her appeal comes as the latest research shows that household transmission is a big factor in the spread of the virus.
“If anyone in your household gets any of the symptoms, they must self-isolate and then get a test as soon as possible,” said Ms Tennant.
She said the advice if you or someone you live with tests positive, or has symptoms and is awaiting a test result you should:
Isolate the person in a room apart from other people
Open windows to keep rooms well ventilated
Stay at least two metres away from people in your house
Keep shared rooms as clean as possible by using disinfectant to spray touch points such as door handles or light switches.
Avoid touching things like towels or toothbrushes that other people use.
“It is crucial that people self-isolate to stop the spread,” said Ms Tennant.
“There is financial support for those self-isolating and our team of contact tracers can also help so you can self-isolate for the full ten days.”
