Get tested for Christmas
Booking is now open for our Asymptomatic Testing Site
A new Covid-19 rapid testing site for students without symptoms will open on campus.
Today, we are ready to invite you to participate in the new national testing programme, designed to offer reassurance and support to students who choose, or are able to travel home for the Christmas period in the student travel window. Students who are asymptomatic (without symptoms), who may be infectious but unaware, can book a free and simple test, with rapid results, to inform your decision-making around Christmas travel plans.
If you decide to take the test (it is voluntary but strongly encouraged) and your result is positive, you will be asked to self-isolate in your current accommodation for 10 days before travelling home (if still symptom free), or if negative, you will be encouraged to travel within a 24 hour window of your test. Receiving a negative test result does not mean that you are Covid-free, but indicates that you are unlikely to pass on the virus in the 24 hours after your test. It is therefore important that you arrange the test at a point when you will be able to travel home as soon as possible if your result is negative, and this should be within the following 24 hours. By getting tested and acting responsibly on the result you receive, you will help to break the chain of transmission of Covid-19 and help to protect loved ones if you are travelling home for the Christmas vacation period.
The test site will be located in the Great Hall, in the centre of campus, from Wednesday 2 December to Wednesday 9 December (8 days, including weekends).
Open from 10.00am to 6.00pm every day (closed between 1.00-2.00pm).
Book your test
So what you need to do:
- If you are planning to travel home for Christmas you should book your test to be within 24 hours of your plan to travel.
- You can book your test online - you will need to use your University e-mail address to complete the booking. When you complete your booking you will be sent a confirmation e-mail with further details.
- You should only book and attend for a test if you are asymptomatic – if you have no symptoms. If you have any Coronavirus symptoms you should not visit the test site but you should self-isolate immediately and book a free NHS test.
- You can review the frequently asked questions that we have developed, all about testing and travelling home for Christmas, for more information about what happens, the type of test, and what you need to do when you receive your results.
- The test is simple and results are provided the same day, typically within a few hours. Booking slots are available every 10 minutes, and the whole process from arrival to completion should take no more than 15 minutes.
- We expect there to be a great deal of interest in participating in the testing programme and therefore encourage you to book as soon as you can. However, if you subsequently need to change your booking, please do so as soon as possible to ensure the booking slot is released for someone else to utilise.
Whatever your test result, you should continue to follow the Covid-safe measures (Hands-Face-Space), and any local restrictions in the area you are travelling to. The University is supporting this national initiative as part of the UK Government plans to help keep yourselves, your friends, families and home communities as safe as possible when returning home this Christmas.
We look forward to welcoming you to the site soon.