Public Health Dorset is now inviting all employees of businesses and organisations, which are open under current government guidelines, to sign up for community testing.

Businesses and organisations no longer have to register their interest in testing and testing is open to all businesses, regardless of size. Employees can now book a regular lateral flow test (LFD) direct via the Public Health Dorset website. 

All businesses and organisations, who have not signed up to the national testing programme, are being asked to encourage their staff to book regular asymptomatic LFD testing at one of Dorset’s local sites.

The aim is to keep businesses open and to identify COVID-19 cases early and help break the chain of transmission.

Already over 700 organisations across Dorset have signed up and committed to get regular lateral flow testing until the end of June.

Around one in three people who are infected with COVID-19 have no symptoms so could be spreading the virus without knowing it. This is known as being asymptomatic.

Rachel Partridge, Public Health Dorset’s Assistant Director, said: “Thank you to all those companies who have already committed to regular lateral flow device testing.

“For those businesses and organisations which are currently open under government guidance, taking part in regular lateral flow helps not only employers keep their staff safe and businesses open but also detect COVID-19 cases earlier and help break the chain of transmission.”

It is important that people going to one of Dorset’s community testing sites for their LFD test are well. If at any point someone develops COVID-19 symptoms, they must self-isolate and book a COVID-19 PCR test via the national portal https://www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test or by calling 119.

If a business or organisation employs more than 50 staff, alternatively they can choose to register for the government’s regular workplace testing scheme: https://www.gov.uk/get-workplace-coronavirus-tests .  All businesses wishing to sign up to the national scheme, as opposed to accessing local test sites, must do so by 31 March.