Coronavirus: What You Need to Know

The symptoms of coronavirus are:

• a continuous cough
• a high temperature
• shortness of breath

Although these symptoms do not necessarily mean you have coronavirus, current NHS advice says you should self-isolate if you have a new continuous cough or a high temperature.

Most cases of coronavirus appear to be mild.

You can read more about the symptoms on the NHS Website.

Everyone must stay at home to help stop the spread of coronavirus.
This includes people of all ages – even if you do not have any symptoms or other health conditions.
You should only leave your home:

• To shop for basic essentials – only when you really need to
• To exercise outdoors – such as a run, walk or cycle, alone or with other people you live with
• For any medical need – for example, to visit a pharmacy or deliver essential supplies to a vulnerable person
• To travel to and from work – but only where you are unable to work from home

Other things you can do to stop the infection spreading:

• Wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
• Use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
• Put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards
• Stay 2 metres (3 steps) away from other people, if you need to go outside, including when on public transport
• When travelling, avoid using public transport wherever possible
• Wear a cloth face-covering in enclosed spaces, such as public transport or some shops

Washing your hands with soap and running water is normally more effective than hand sanitizer. You should use hand sanitizer when handwashing is not an option.

You can find information on how to make and wear a cloth face-covering on the GOV.UK website.

For more advice on how to avoid catching or spreading coronavirus, see the NHS Website.

Advice for people at high risk
If you're at high risk of getting seriously ill from coronavirus, there are extra things you should do to avoid catching it.
These include:

• Not leaving your home – you should not go out to do shopping, visit friends or family, or attend any gatherings
• Avoiding close contact with other people in your home as much as possible

If the NHS haven't yet contacted you and you need to register as extremely vulnerable, you can do that online at the GOV.UK website.

You should self-isolate if you have either:

• a new continuous cough
• a high temperature

If any of this applies to you, you should stay indoors and avoid contact with other people.

• If you live by yourself, you should stay indoors for 7 days from when you became ill
• If you live with other people, all of you should stay indoors for 14 days from when one of you first became ill

Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital. Contact the NHS online coronavirus service for further advice.

You should only seek medical advice if:

• you feel you cannot cope with your symptoms at home, or
• your condition gets worse, or
• you don't feel better after 7 days

If you have a medical emergency, call 999 and tell the operator you have coronavirus.
Otherwise you can contact the NHS online or call them on 111. They will advise you on what to do next.

You can find further information on staying at home on the Public Health England website.

Current NHS advice says you should self-isolate if you or anyone in your household:

• has a new continuous cough
• has a high temperature

You will need to stay at home for 7 days if you live by yourself, or 14 days if you live with other people, and avoid public places and public transport. You can still ask friends, family or delivery drivers to drop off food and groceries – there’s no need to stockpile or panic-buy.

For more advice on self-isolating, see the Public Health England website.

If your income drops or you become worse off because of self-isolating, you may be able to claim benefits, as well as a £500 support payment for people on low incomes. Call us on 0300 3309 047 for advice on this.

Even if you don't have any symptoms, current NHS advice says people should still stay at home to help stop the spread of coronavirus.
You should only leave your home:

• To shop for basic essentials – only when you really need to
• To exercise outdoors – such as a run, walk or cycle, alone or with other people you live with
• For any medical need – for example, to visit a pharmacy or deliver essential supplies to a vulnerable person
• To travel to and from work – but only where this is absolutely necessary

Right now, government advice is to work from home wherever possible. You should only travel to work if you cannot work from home.
If you can’t work from home, your employer should help you find ways to avoid unnecessary contact.
That could be:

• Letting you travel when public transport is less busy
• Not asking you to go to big meetings, or arranging to hold them online
• Finding car parking spaces for more vulnerable employees

You can check other ways you and your employer can support each other on the Acas website. Acas provides free information for employees and employers.
You can find more guidance for employees on gov.uk.

If you've been laid off or are unable to work because of coronavirus, your employer can claim 80% of your wages from the government through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

If you're self-employed, the government has announced a scheme to cover up to 80% of peoples' lost earnings, which will start to be paid at the beginning of June 2020 and backdated for up to 3 months. You can read more information on the gov.uk website.

Check your contract – your employer might have their own sickness policy. If your contract doesn’t list any specific sickness entitlements, you might still be able to get Statutory Sick Pay (SSP).

You can normally get SSP as long as you normally earn over £118/week. This still applies to zero-hours contracts. You can read more about whether you’re entitled to sick pay on the Citizens Advice National Website.

The government has also announced that anyone who cannot work because of coronavirus will get SSP from the first day of sickness without the usual 3-day waiting period - this applies retrospectively from 13th March 2020.

If you’re self-employed or earning less than £118/week you might be able to claim sickness benefits instead, such as Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or Universal Credit. Call us on 0300 3309 047 for more advice on these.

If you aren’t sick but your employer still tells you not to come in, this is different from taking time off for sickness and you should receive your normal pay. Your employer can claim 80% of your wages from the government through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

You can find further information on coronavirus and work on the ACAS Website.

If you're self-employed, the government has announced a grant scheme to cover up to 80% of peoples' lost earnings. You can read more information on the gov.uk website.

You have a legal right to take time off work to deal with an emergency involving your children or other family members who depend on you. The law says you’re allowed a reasonable amount of time to deal with the emergency.

If you need to take time off work to look after your children, talk to your employer. You should also check your contract to see if there are any rules about this in it. Your employer may be able to use the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme - see the gov.uk website for further details.

If you need help negotiating with your employer, you can speak to ACAS on 0300 123 1100 or look at their website.

You can read more about your rights to time off work on gov.uk.

The Department for Education have a coronavirus helpline for anyone with education-related questions, including parents. You can call them on 0800 046 8687.

The government have said that anyone who has been infected with coronavirus or told to self-isolate will not need to submit fit notes as part of their sickness benefit claim. If you're told to self-isolate while on benefits, you may also be entitled to a £500 support payment.
You can read more about Coronavirus and benefits on the DWP website

If you have to make a new claim for Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) while having to stay at home because of coronavirus:

• You will be able to receive up to a month's advance on your Universal Credit without physically attending a jobcentre
• Any ESA you claim will be payable from day one, without the usual seven-day waiting period

You can read more about Universal Credit and sickness on the Citizens Advice national website.

If you encounter any problems with your benefits, call us for advice on 0300 3309 047.

If you’re planning to travel abroad, check the country by country travel advice on gov.uk. Please note that the current advice is to avoid all but essential international travel.

You should also check your travel insurance to see what you’re covered for. Most policies should cover you for not being able to travel because of a serious illness, but you might not be covered for cancelling your holiday for other reasons – for instance, if you’re worried about coronavirus. You should also check guidance from your travel agent, airline or provider – you may be able to rebook your holiday for another time if necessary.

If your package holiday or flight is cancelled, you may be entitled to compensation.

You can read more on the Citizens Advice national website about your rights if your holiday is cancelled.

You can read more on the Citizens Advice national website about your rights if your flight is delayed or cancelled.

If you have any problems with your holiday provider, speak to our Consumer Service on 0800 223 1133.

There’s a lot of misinformation being written about coronavirus. You should make sure to read up-to-date information from trusted sources.

You can read the NHS overview for Coronavirus here.

You can read the official government response here.

You can read updates from Public Health England here.

You can read the Citizens Advice national page here.

Be careful not to rely on any information that doesn’t agree with these sources of information. New types of Fraud and Scams are already appearing that try to take advantage of people’s fears about coronavirus.

The police and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau have warned of two types of scams:

• Online sales listings for face masks or other products that are never delivered
• Emails claiming to be from the World Health Organisation or the Centre for Disease Control, which claim to provide lists of infected people in your area but actually link to viruses and malicious websites, or ask people for money upfront

You can read more about common types of scam on the BBC website.
Remember to be careful if you receive any emails from organisations or people you haven’t contacted before, or with anything asking you to pay money upfront. You can find more information about recognising a scam on our national website.

If you need further advice about online scams, call our Scams Action service on 0808 250 5050 or use our online contact form.

You can report fraud and cybercrime to the police at the Action Fraud website.