As more and more Omicron coronavirus cases are found in the UK it becomes increasingly likely that you may be exposed to it.
Due to concerns about the variant being more transmissible and having the potential to dodge our vaccines, the Welsh Government introduced new isolation rules specifically for that situation.
Under the new rules people in Wales will have to self isolate for 10 days, even if they have been fully vaccinated, if they come into contact with a probable or confirmed case of the Omicron variant of Covid.
But how will health officials identify an Omicron case and how will you find out if you need to isolate?
Read more: Three more cases of Omicron variant of Covid confirmed in Wales
If you go and get a PCR test as usual you find out in the usual way if your test has come back positive.
However, it takes a bit longer to work out if that positive case is the Omicron variant. A Public Health Wales spokesman said: "All tests positive for Covid-19 in Wales are routinely tested using the reflex variant PCR test that identifies if the virus is a probable Omicron variant.
"Those identified as probable Omicron variant are subjected to further testing with additional variant tests and whole genome sequencing, which then tells us for sure. This whole genome sequencing takes additional time, usually a few days."
You can read more about how scientists in Wales work out which variant of Covid is present here.
Contact tracers will contact each individual who has the Omicron variant to tell them. That person is the then legally obliged to inform contact tracers who their close contacts have been . The contact tracers will then contact these people and they must isolate even if they have been vaccinated.
What if I think I am a close contact but haven't been contacted?
Given the huge and increasing strain that is likely to be on Wales' contact tracers there is a chance there may be a delay to you being contacted.
So what should you do if someone you have recently spent time with has tested positive for Covid but you haven't been contacted by tracers? Well this is tricky because technically there is no legal obligation on you to isolate. The same is true if you are pinged on the NHS app. However there is a strong ethical argument that if you know you have come into close proximity to a positive case you should isolate until you a get a negative PCR test.
A close contact is anyone that has been in contact with someone who has coronavirus. This could be someone you live with or someone else. You will have been identified as having been in close proximity to them, including:
- Someone you have had face-to-face contact with at a distance of less than one metre, had skin-to-skin physical contact with or that has coughed on you, or you had other forms of contact with them within one metre for one minute or longer
- Someone you have spent more than 15 minutes within two metres of
- Someone you have travelled in a car or other small vehicle with or someone you have been in close proximity to on public transport
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