Testing
Take time to test and help protect family and friends
Residents in Cheshire West and Chester without COVID-19 symptoms are asked to take time to test twice weekly to keep the infection rate down and the community safe.
Regular testing identifies the one in three people who have the virus without any symptoms and so who could be spreading the virus unwittingly.
While vaccines are the best way to protect people from Coronavirus, no vaccine is 100% effective. Even if they have had the vaccine, asymptomatic residents should continue to test themselves twice a week for COVID-19.
Rapid Lateral Flow Tests (LFTs) are for people without symptoms of the virus. They show results in around 30 minutes, are easy to access and free to all.
There are three walk-in testing centres in the borough at Chester Cathedral, the Dingle Centre in Winsford and Stanney Oaks Leisure Centre in Ellesmere Port, and no appointment is necessary. Test kits to do at home can also be collected at these locations, as well as at Northwich, Neston, Frodsham and Ellesmere Port libraries, Dee View Distribution Hub near Chester Retail Park and the mobile library van at Tarporley, Tattenhall, Malpas and Tarvin. For more information visit: www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/c19testing.
Alternatively, free test kits can be picked up at most pharmacies, with a map of participating venues at: maps.test-and-trace.nhs.uk, order online at: www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests or by calling: 119 (open from 7am to 11pm and free to call).
If you test positive you must self-isolate immediately along with everyone in your household and book a PCR test to confirm your result at: nhs.uk/coronavirus or by calling: 119.
If you take a PCR test within two days of the positive LFT result, and the PCR result is negative, you and your household will no longer be required to self-isolate.
If the test is positive, you and your household must continue to self-isolate for 10 full days after the positive LFT. Day 1 is the day after your LFT test.
Help, support and advice is available on the Council website to help you during this period at: www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/selfisolationsupport or call the Council’s helpline on: 0300 123 7031.
Anyone with symptoms of COVID-19, including a new, continuous cough, high temperature or loss or change to your sense of smell or taste, should self-isolate immediately and book a PCR test at: nhs.uk/coronavirus or by calling: 119.
The Council also advises residents to book a PCR test as a precaution if you have other symptoms that may be related to COVID-19.
These can include shortness of breath, muscle or body aches, fatigue, sore throat, headache, nasal congestion or runny nose, diarrhoea, nausea or vomiting. However, it is important to remember that these are very common symptoms, and most people who have these symptoms will not have COVID-19.
When booking choose the option that the local council has asked you to get a test. If you only have these other symptoms, you do not need to self-isolate unless you test positive for COVID-19.
NHS Test and Trace
The NHS Test and Trace Service is aimed at identifying and advising people who have had close contact with someone who has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.
Close contact is defined as:
- Having face-to-face contact with someone (less than 1 metre away)
- Spending more than 15 minutes within 2 metres of someone
- Travelling in a car or other small vehicle with someone (even on a short journey) or close to them on a plane
We want you to recognise the difference between a genuine and a fraudulent NHS Test and Trace conversation. There are reports that scammers are trying to impersonate contact tracers in an attempt to obtain personal information.
NHS Test and Trace contact tracers will always:
- Call from 0300 013 5000
- Send text messages from ‘NHS’
- Ask people to sign in to the NHS test and trace contact-tracing website
- Ask for your full name and date of birth to confirm identity, and postcode to offer support while self-isolating
- Ask about any coronavirus symptoms
- Ask you to provide the name, telephone number and/or email address of anyone you have had close contact with in the two days prior to symptoms starting
- Ask if anyone you have been in contact with is under 18 or lives outside of England
They will never:
- Ask for bank details, or payments
- Ask for details of any other accounts, such as social media
- Set up a password or PIN number over the phone
- Call from a premium rate number, such as those starting 09 or 087
More information about NHS Test and Trace is available here.
COVID-19 testing in Cheshire – What you need to know
Who can get tested?
Anyone showing coronavirus symptoms is now eligible to book a swab test to find out if they have the virus.
People can register for a test at www.nhs.uk/coronavirus, after checking their symptoms. Those in England and Wales who do not have any access to the internet, or who have difficulty with the digital portals, are able to ring 119 to book a test.
Anosmia – the loss or a change in your normal sense of smell or taste – was added as a symptom of COVID-19 on May 18th 2020.
This means individuals need to self-isolate immediately – and will be eligible for a test – if they have a new continuous cough, or a high temperature, or feel a loss or changed sense of normal smell or taste.
All members of their household must also self-isolate, unless the symptomatic individual receives a negative test result.
Testing for essential workers
Essential Workers and members of their household who have symptoms should continue to register for a test through the Self-Referral and Employer Portals on gov.uk. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland retain separate eligibility definitions for essential workers.
Care Homes in England can continue to register for delivery of tests for all their staff and residents, whether or not they have symptoms: https://www.gov.uk/apply-coronavirus-test-care-home.
How to get tested in Cheshire
Testing is currently by appointment only and the correct booking procedures must be followed in order to avoid being turned away.
Satellite testing centres
There are currently two satellite testing centres in Cheshire at the Countess of Chester Hospital and Leighton Hospital in Crewe.
Initially, priority testing was for people with symptoms to see if they have the virus, both to inform clinical diagnosis and help people get back to work.
The Government has since expanded testing for Coronavirus (COVID-19) to include:
- Hospital patients suspected of having Covid-19
- All those working on the frontline in health and social care (with or without symptoms)
- Patients in the NHS and residents in Care Homes (with or without symptoms)
- All other essential workers with symptoms
- Anyone over 65 with symptoms
- Anyone who goes into work because they cannot work from home (for example, construction workers) and has symptoms
- All teachers providing face-to-face services to Children (with or without symptoms)
- Anyone who has symptoms and lives with someone who meets any of the above criteria
Cheshire’s satellite testing centres test all these staff groups where the individual/s can travel to the centres. They will also test symptomatic and asymptomatic adults and children when moving between local care facilities. Cheshire’s satellite testing centres can test children as young as 2.
The teams can also support outreach swabbing on a case-by-case review. Please note: in this scenario you may need to arrange a clinician or social care worker to take the swab from your patient/client.
To arrange a test at one of Cheshire’s satellite testing centre, please email: cheshireccg.covid19@nhs.net
Regional testing centres and home testing
In the North West there are regional testing centres at Manchester Airport, Haydock Racecourse, Liverpool John Lennon Airport and Preston College.
You can apply for a test directly at one of these sites if you are in one of the groups above. You can select a regional test site drive-through appointment or home test kit. These testing options are available to over 18s only.
Click here to apply for a test.
COVID-19 local testing site to open in Chester
Residents with COVID-19 symptoms will now have access to a new local testing site in the centre of Chester where they can find out if they have coronavirus.
The local testing site (LTS) at Little Roodee car park will be open from Saturday 5 September, 10am – 5pm. From Sunday 6 September, the testing site will be open seven days a week, 8am-8pm. It is a dedicated walk-through site primarily for local people and particularly for those who do not drive and who may previously have found it difficult to access testing.
Residents must arrive on foot or by cycle and there is no free car parking available. If people do choose to drive, they will need to park at a location nearby and walk onto the site. Residents who wish to park on the remainder of the Little Roodee car park will need to pay the standard tariff. People with COVID-19 symptoms are advised not to use public transport and wear a face covering, as well as bringing some form of ID.
Residents will be able to pre-book test appointments online through the existing national portal nhs.uk/coronavirus or by calling 119. Residents also have the option to turn up for a free ‘walk up’ test, without booking, although there may be a short wait. Users will be asked to self-swab when attending. A step-by-step guide to attending a Local Testing Site can be viewed here.
Residents with symptoms can still attend the ‘pop up’ units, which move between Winsford, Chester, Northwich and Ellesmere Port. You will need to book an appointment to attend these mobile testing units. To book an appointment, visit the NHS website or call 119.
Mobile Testing Units
In addition to the local and regional testing options outlined above, mobile testing units, operated by the Armed Forces, are currently travelling to sites around the UK to increase access to coronavirus testing.
These mobile testing units are temporary and travel to test essential workers as well as other eligible groups and members of their households.
More information about mobile testing units can be found here.
To book a test at the mobile testing unit, essential workers and other eligible groups can access the government self-referral portal to register and book on behalf of themselves or a member of their household.
Antibody testing
Antibody testing – to check whether someone has had the COVID-19 virus – is being rolled out across Cheshire, initially prioritising NHS staff. Patients who are already having blood taken as part of other tests may be asked whether they would like an antibody test.
At this stage, antibody testing is primarily useful to understand the spread of the virus. There is no strong evidence yet to suggest that those who have had the COVID-19 virus develop immunity which would prevent them from getting the virus again.
For the test to be effective, it needs to be taken at least two weeks after a suspected COVID-19 infection, otherwise the necessary antibodies will not have built up.
