Test, Trace Protect Explained

The Welsh Government has introduced Test, Trace, Protect (TTP) as an important national programme of work to limit the spread of COVID-19 in the population, to protect communities. 

• How will TTP work?

  It will work by: 
  • testing those who have symptoms, while they self-isolate;

  • tracing people who have been in close contact with the symptomatic person, asking them to self-isolate until it is safe to return to work or their usual routine; and

  • protecting the community, especially the most vulnerable.

• Who is responsible for TTP in the Vale of Glamorgan? 

  Across Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan TTP is being led and delivered by Cardiff and Vale UHB, Cardiff Council, Vale of Glamorgan Council, and Shared Regulatory Services working in partnership. 

  
  The programme also has access to specialist health protection support from Public Health Wales.

   
  This programme will:
  • Manage a team of Contact Tracers and Contact Advisors 

  • Make testing arrangements

  • Provide advice and guidance to cases and contacts on self-isolation to minimise transmission

  • Produce surveillance reports on numbers of new cases, hospital admissions and other key information required to direct the regional response to COVID-19

  • Identify and escalate issues relating to community clusters and/or specific premises as appropriate

   
  The Cardiff and the Vale service runs 7 days a week from 8:00am to 8:00pm. The service operates bilingually.  

• Test: How do those with symptoms request a Covid-19 test under the new system? 

  Importantly, there are no changes to how Critical Workers employed by each of the three partner organisations (Cardiff and the Vale University Health Board, Cardiff Council, the Vale of Glamorgan Council) obtain a Covid-19 test.

   

  Staff displaying symptoms should speak to their manager. 

   

   

   

  Everyone in Wales can request a test by visiting the portal below.

   

  Apply for a Cornavirus Test

• Trace: How does the TTP contact tracing process work? 

  Currently contact tracing will be carried out on receipt of a confirmed Covid-19 diagnosis (a positive Covid-19 test result). 

   

   

  The tracing team will make contact with the individual who has tested positive to inform them that their household should also be self-isolating and ask them to share information about their recent contacts.

   

  The team will then use that information to alert those individuals that they have been in contact with someone with a confirmed case to tell them what they need to do and how they can access support if they need it. 

   

  An online portal will also be available to people in Wales to guide anyone who has had a positive test result to self-service forms where they can provide details of their primary contacts and key locations. 

   

  If any of these individuals have symptoms of Covid-19 they will be asked to request a test. At this point they will also enter the contact tracing system and if their test result is positive, the process will begin again. 

   

  The Cardiff and Vale service will be linked to an all-Wales database where all contact tracing information will be recorded. 

   

  Automated text and email notifications will also be sent to contacts where possible.

   

  The regional service will also be integrated with the NHSX Covid-19 app once this becomes available.  

• Trace: Who is considered a ‘contact’? 

  People will be considered as potential contacts if they have been in close contact with the individual who tested positive up to two days before they first displayed symptoms and for seven days after.

   

  Examples of close contact include:-

  - having been within 1 metre of someone who as tested positive and has been coughed on, had a face-to-face conversation, had skin-to-skin physical contact, or been in other forms of contact within 1 metre for 1 minute or longer;

  - having been within 2 metres of someone who has tested positive for more than 15 minutes;

  - having travelled in a vehicle with someone who has tested positive.

   

  People working in professional roles who have correctly used personal protective equipment (PPE) or work behind an appropriate screen or partition (for example a Perspex screen) are not included within this.

   

  If a person who has tested positive works in, or has visited, a health or social care setting (e.g. a hospital, a GP practice, a care home, a dentist) a special needs educational setting or a prison/detention facility, the case will be automatically escalated to the regional response tier of the contact tracing service. 

• Protect: How should people who have tested positive and those that have been in contact with them self-isolate? 

  Anyone with a confirmed case of Covid-19 must self-isolate for 7 days after their symptoms started (and until their symptoms have disappeared other than cough or loss of taste/smell).

   

  Those living with someone who has tested positive should self-isolate immediately for 14 days, starting from the day that the person tested first showed symptoms. 

   

  Anyone identified as a contact of someone who has tested positive via the TTP process should self-isolate for 14 days starting from the point of most recent contact. 

   

  Other members of the contact’s household will not be asked to self-isolate, but they will be encouraged to distance themselves as much as possible. If this will be difficult, they will be encouraged, where possible, to stay elsewhere while the contact is in self-isolation. 

   

  If the contact then develops symptoms, they should request a test and all members of their household will also then be required to self-isolate until the result of the test is received. 

   

  If the test is negative then the contact must still remain in isolation until their original 14 day period is completed, but their household can leave isolation. 

   

  If the test is positive, the contact will become a new confirmed case and the process will start again.  

• Protect: What support is available for people who are self-isolating? 

  Most people will be able to manage self-isolation as a result of TTP without additional support, or with help from friends and family.

   

  However, some people may need help with shopping, access to emergency food, collecting medicine and other support and advice. 

   

  This support will continue to be provided locally and in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan will be coordinated by Cardiff Council and the Vale of Glamorgan Council. 

   

  Referrals for support by these services will be integrated into the TTP process.