Covid-19 rapid testing made easier for partially sighted people
A new service has been launched to help partially sighted people use lateral flow tests at home.
The Be My Eyes app connects people with low to moderate vision with agents from 119 through a live video call. Users can now benefit from live video assistance from NHS Test and Trace staff to help guide them through how to order, use the tests and register their test results.
The app was launched following a partnership between the UK Health Security Agency and the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), the Macular Society, Thomas Pocklington Trust, Visionary and Be My Eyes app, to help make testing more accessible.
Following advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, the Health Secretary has announced that he is making a non-urgent offer of Covid-19 vaccines to all children aged five to 11 in England. The Covid-19 vaccine is already available to at-risk children aged five to 11, and those children who live with immunosuppressed people.
The NHS will prepare to extend the non-urgent offer to all children during April so that if parents wish to do so, they can take up the offer to have their children vaccinated.
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A booster jab will strengthen your protection from Covid-19 and give you the best possible defence because two doses are not enough.
Everyone aged 16 and over who had a second dose of the vaccine at least three months ago can get a booster dose.
Book your booster online, call 119 or grab a jab at a walk-in site.
Remember, it's never too late to come forward for your first or second dose.
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A new review by UK Health Security Agency shows that people who have had one or more doses of a coronavirus vaccine are less likely to develop long Covid than those who remain unvaccinated.
The data from some of the studies included in the review suggest that:
- people with Covid-19 who received two doses of the Pfizer, AstraZeneca, or Moderna vaccines or one dose of the Janssen vaccine, were about half as likely as people who received one dose or were unvaccinated to develop long Covid symptoms lasting more than 28 days
- vaccine effectiveness against most post-Covid symptoms in adults was highest in people aged 60 years and over, and lowest for younger participants (19 to 35 years).
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Around 1 in 3 people with Covid-19 do not have symptoms, and taking regular tests helps to identify people who have coronavirus.
If you are meeting people where the risk of spreading Covid-19 is greater then the advice is to take a test before you go.
Lateral flow tests can be ordered online, by calling 119, and by picking up kits from Pharmacy Collect Service or Community Collect sites.
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Face coverings are still required in health and care settings including hospitals, GP surgeries and if you are accessing or visiting care homes.
The face covering must be kept on until you leave these settings unless you are exempt or have a reasonable excuse for removing it.
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Our table highlights Covid-19 rates per 100,000 population in each district and borough between 5 and 11 February 2022 compared to the previous seven days.
The data is sourced from the UKHSA national dataset, which now includes reinfections in daily case numbers.
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