Whether your business currently only has a reduced workforce operating in person at your business premises or you are following the appropriate social distancing and safe working guidelines, you will be interested in ensuring the spread of Covid-19 is minimised. With the pandemic still causing problems and still spreading, while the vaccines are rolled out, it is important that we are all tested regularly. This is especially important if your staff need to attend work to progress your business.

If you have not already organised regular testing for your company, consider some of the major
benefits to utilising the corporate testing service we offer at Pure Testing.

Protect your Staff From Exposure to Coronavirus

This is perhaps the most obvious benefit to organising for corporate testing of your workforce, but it is still worth highlighting. The best way to minimise the exposure and spread of the virus is to obey the safe working and social distancing rules and regular testing. If your staff are regularly tested before they come into work or at the start of the working day, you can quickly deal with anyone that tests positive for the virus. That way they can self-isolate at home and prevent other members of staff contracting it from them.

Keep Disruptions to Business at a Bear Minimum

With a global pandemic of the scale we are experiencing with coronavirus, there is always going to be some disruptions and obstacles in the way of your business running smoothly. With regularly testing, as outlined above, you can prevent these disruptions. You will always know who has the virus present in their system, whether they are asymptomatic or not, and can reduce the number of people who need to be sent home to self-isolate, just because they experience symptoms.

Reduce Employee Absenteeism

Following nicely from the above point, without testing, if anyone in your workforce develops
symptoms of coronavirus, the government guidelines state that they should self-isolate immediately and get a test. Having tests pre-booked for your staff at regular intervals can stop this from being too much of an issue. There is less chance of people having to stay off because they think they have coronavirus, because you will know for sure if they do or don’t with a positive or negative test result.

Identify Who Has Come Into Contact With People Who Have Covid-19

The problem with Covid-19, like many other infectious diseases, that it is not always cut and dry telling who is infected and who isn’t. Some people, for example, are asymptomatic, meaning they carry the virus and can affect other people, even if they don’t display any of the effects or symptoms. This can be devastating to a workforce and does not help in combatting the spread of this very infectious illness.

When you test regularly, however, you can quickly identify the asymptomatic individuals and take the appropriate measures, either having them work remotely or self-isolating.

As you can see, there are various great benefits to investing in corporate Covid-19 testing for your workforce.

As we are now heading towards the start of year two of the global Covid-19 pandemic, one thing
that is constantly spoken of is testing. Most people have had some form of testing. With so many different tests out there that all claim to have some efficiency at determining whether people are infected with coronavirus or not, you may not actually know much about what makes them all different.

In this blog post, we want to clear up some of the mystery.

There are two main kinds of Covid-19 tests that are actively used, there are two diagnostic tests, antigen, and molecular tests, and these are designed to identify active infections.

Let’s look at these in closer detail.

Molecular Tests

Molecular tests, such as the Polymerase Chain Reaction Test (PCR), involve either a swab taken from the throat or nasal passage or by testing saliva or other bodily fluids. What is the purpose of these tests? They look for any evidence of the genetic material of coronavirus in the body.

While it is true that have a low rate of what are known as false-positive results, that is, when the test says you have coronavirus, but you don’t, they also have a higher rate of false-negative results, which states that the test says you don’t have coronavirus when in reality you do.

The best option for PCR tests is the deep nasal swap that takes material from the very back of your nose, close to your throat. This is because there is likely to be a higher volume of viral material at that area of your body than other parts.

PCR Tests are incredibly sensitive, which enables them to detect with great accuracy that you have coronavirus. One of the issues with general PCR tests, though, is that they can be very uncomfortable, and the results can often take anything from a few hours or even days to come through, depending where you get your test administered.

Antigen Tests

Another form of diagnostic testing, antigen tests are also administered using throat or nasal swabs and these are designed to determine if there are any proteins, known as antigens, present in your body from coronavirus. The interesting thing that you may not have realised is that if you have ever had a pregnancy test, you are familiar with antigen tests.

The antigen test, in general, is normally a lot less expensive than others, and takes the least amount of time to deliver results. One of the major problems with them, however, is that although they are normally very accurate tests for positive virus results, you may need a molecular test in order to identify if a person is negative because antigen tests return a higher rate of false-negative results.

At Pure Testing, if you are interested in having either the PCR Test or Antigen Test, you can book either with them. They are administered very quickly and return quicker results than other places.

Although many people have decided against travelling abroad, many reading this may still want to fly. Before you start booking flights, it is important that you have the necessary documentation, and while the Covid-19 pandemic is still causing problems throughout the world that includes Fit-to-Fly Certificates. However, you may be aware that many airlines required Fit-to-Fly Certificates from their passengers, even before Covid-19 first became a problem. You may be a little confused or just curious about the difference between standard and Covid-19 Fit-to-Fly Certificates. That is what we are going to discuss in the following post.

What Are Standard Fit-to-Fly Certificates?

First things first, standard Fit-to-Fly certificates are documents that provide proof that your GP has given you the okay for airline travel. This means that they have assessed any pre-existing medical condition you have, and they believe it will not be negatively affected by you travelling by plane.

Airlines normally require standard Fit-to-Fly Certificates in the following situations:

• You have recently been discharged from hospital
• You are currently recovering from a surgical procedure or operation
• You are over 28 weeks pregnant
• You are travelling for medical reasons

These certificates may be required if you are travelling and suffer from a variety of conditions, from infectious diseases to broken bones. Therefore, you should consult with airlines as much in advance as you possibly can. Women who are pregnant need a special certificate for travelling with many airlines after they have passed their 28 th week. In that situation, you would need a midwife or GP to confirm:

• You are in good health
• You are experiencing a normal pregnancy
• The expected delivery date

There are some airlines that require you or/and your GP to complete a more comprehensive form
regarding your condition. For instance, British Airways is one such airline and will often request clarification on if you need special medical devices or additional oxygen to travel. So it is important to make sure to begin this process as far in advance before your departure as possible.

What Are Covid-19 Fit-to-Fly Certificates?

There are several airlines that now request that passengers provide a certification that they have had a recent negative Covid-19 test before they are allowed to fly. These certificates provide evidence that you have tested negative for Covid-19 and do not clear you as a risk of flying because of other pre-existing medical conditions.

Although you will be able to get a Covid-19 test for free through the NHS in a location near you, if you are suffering from any of the symptoms of the virus, Covid-19 tests from the NHS will not clear you for international airline travel. That is when you would need to arrange for a private test through an organisation like Pure Testing.

How Long Are Fit-to-Fly Certificates Valid?

The Fit-to-Fly Certificate, like those available from Pure Testing are only valid for a relatively short length of time, and it is important to check out the guidelines related to your travel destination and airline, before you book your test.

Very soon, people travelling from countries considered to be high risk to England, will have to quarantine in hotels sanctioned by the UK government, so these measures can be enforced more strictly. What does this mean for travelling? What countries are included on the banned list.

What Countries Are Included on the Banned List?

33 so-called high risk countries have now been placed on the red list by the United Kingdom. Anyone who has been in these 33 countries in 10 days before they travelled are not allowed to enter the UK. These are primarily African and South American countries, where new variants of Covid-19 have been discovered. Rwanda, Burundi, and the UAE are the most recent additions to the list. Due to its close connections to Brazil, Portugal is the only European country that has been added to the list.

What About Irish and British Nationals?

The good news for Irish and British nationals travelling from these countries to the UK is that they are allowed entry into the country. That also includes residents and visa holders. However, they need to quarantine for a total of 10 days.

How is the Hotel Quarantine System Likely to Work?

Although the full details of how hotel quarantining will work have still to be set out by the
government, we do know a little about it. When people travel from red list countries to England, they are met at their point of entry, whether it’s the port or airport and are then taken directly to a hotel so they can self-isolate with it enforced to avoid any unnecessary spreading of Covid-19 variants.

This system is not new or exclusive to the UK as entry to some other countries, like Australia, already includes hotel quarantining.

Who Is Allowed to Travel at the Moment?

As a result of us being under a national lockdown, people are only allowed to travel abroad for what are deemed to be essential reasons. These are considered the same as reasonable excuses for travelling domestically, such as:

• Educational reasons
• Medical appointments
• Work, when it cannot be done at home

It will soon be the case that people who leave England need to declare the reason they need to
travel, and that will be checked before they depart by carriers. There will be an increase in the presence of police at airports and other ports, so that they can tell anyone who does not have a reason to travel they should go home, or they will be fined.

What About Testing?

There have been new rules set in place about Covid-19 testing. For example, incoming travellers to
the UK need to have evidence of a Covid-19 test with a negative result that was taken within the last
72 hours. If they don’t comply with these rules, they will be fined £500 and Border Force officials will
be there to carry spot checks.

Who Does Not Need to Be Tested?

Currently, there is a small amount of people who don’t need to be tested, including:

• Maritime crew, international rail workers, air workers and Hauliers
• Travellers coming from St Helena, Ascension Islands, and the Falkland Islands
• Passengers from what is known as the Common Travel Area (Isle of Man, Channel Islands,
  and the Republic of Ireland)
• Children under the age of 11 years old

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