Skip to main content

Health and Safety

Health and Safety

Covid Advice

It is fantastic to be welcoming visitors back to Durham. We are here to help you plan a safe and enjoyable visit to our amazing county.

As restrictions ended in England from 19 July 2021, we would urge those attending the conference to be cautious. The conference organisers, Durham University, and all of Durham’s businesses have been hard at work to ensure you have a safe and enjoyable visit. Ongoing advice related to the coronavirus outbreak will be shared on https://www.thisisdurham.com/discover-durham/know-before-you-go

Although not mandatory anymore, we encourage attendees to wear masks while travelling and while participating in conference activities. We will provide you with a complementary Durham mask in your conference pack.

Full details of the Coronavirus guidance (what you can and cannot do) can be found on the UK Government’s website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/living-safely-with-respiratory-infections-including-covid-19

To ensure the safety of all attendants, if you are exhibiting symptoms of any kind, please stay isolated and consider participating at the conference online from your room; if you need to interact, stay masked until you are able to test and produce a negative result. Tests can be acquired from local pharmacies.

In case you require medical assistance

Call NHS at 111 if you urgently need medical help or advice but it’s not a life-threatening situation.

Call 999 if someone is seriously ill or injured and their life is at risk.

Closest hospital (A&E):

Closest pharmacies:

What to do if you’ve tested positive for COVID-19

If you have COVID-19, you can pass on the virus to other people for up to 10 days from when your infection starts.

You should:

  • Try to stay at home or your hotel and avoid contact with other people for 5 days
  • Try to avoid meeting people at higher risk from COVID-19 for 10 days, especially if their immune system means they’re at higher risk of serious illness from COVID-19, even if they’ve had a COVID-19 vaccine.

You can reduce the risk of catching and passing on COVID-19 by:

Getting vaccinated – We all have a responsibility to help slow the transmission of COVID-19 and protect our community. Having your vaccines and a booster is one of the best ways of doing this.

Taking a test – Taking a test if you have COVID-19 symptoms, and staying at home and avoiding contact with other people if you test positive

Ventilating spaces – Letting fresh air in if meeting indoors or meeting outside. We have procedures in place to assess ventilation levels in internal spaces at the conference venue. Capacities are based on ventilation and air quality and enable us to be considerate of everyone in our community and respect each other’s space.

Wearing a face covering – Wearing a face covering in crowded and enclosed spaces, especially where you come into contact with people you do not usually meet, when rates of transmission are high.

Washing your hands – Washing your hands and following advice to ‘Catch it, Bin it, Kill it.’

Staying at home if you are unwell – For more information on the symptoms of COVID-19, please visit https://www.dur.ac.uk/coronavirus/