COVID-19 is a new illness that can affect your lungs and airways. It's caused by a virus called coronavirus.
Stay at home if you have coronavirus symptoms
Stay at home if you have either:
-
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)
Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.
Use the 111 online coronavirus service to find out what to do.
The key new government measures are:
-
Everyone should avoid gatherings and crowded places, such as pubs, clubs and theatres
-
Everyone should work from home if they can
-
All "unnecessary" visits to friends and relatives in care homes should cease
-
People should only use the NHS "where we really need to" - and can reduce the burden on workers by getting advice on the NHS website where possible
-
By next weekend, those with the most serious health conditions must be "largely shielded from social contact for around 12 weeks"
-
If one person in any household has a persistent cough or fever, everyone living there must stay at home for 14 days
-
Those people should, if possible, avoid leaving the house "even to buy food or essentials" - but they may leave the house "for exercise and, in that case, at a safe distance from others"
See Also