Skip to main content

COVID-19 Local Test and Trace

What we do

The Royal Borough of Greenwich is working with Public Health England and NHS Test and Trace to support the delivery of Contact Tracing in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. 

COVID-19 is an infectious disease affecting the whole country and the world. If not controlled, it can infect large numbers of people and can cause serious illness and death. 

Contact Tracing is an important part of slowing the spread of COVID-19. It involves identifying and tracing as many people as possible who have been in contact with someone who has COVID-19 and providing appropriate advice or treatment, depending on the nature and duration of their contact.  

If you are contacted by the Royal Borough of Greenwich Contact Tracing Service, the call handler will state this at the start of the call. Additionally, the Contact Tracing Service will use the phone number 020 8921 3100 to contact you. 

Why we need your information and how we use it

The processing of your information is required because it is necessary for the Council to carry out a task in the public interest and exercise of the controller’s official authority, as set out in section 8(c) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This authority arises from the various Coronavirus legislation, and in Notices issued under Regulation 3(4) of the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 is respect of the operation of Test and Trace services. 

The processing of special category information (such as information relating to health and ethnicity) is required because it is necessary for tasks in the public interest in the area of public health, as set out in article 9(2)(i) of the General Data Protection Regulations. 

What type of information we collect

The information held about you varies depending on whether you have tested positive for COVID-19, or whether you have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive. 

If you have tested positive for COVID-19 (Case): 

  • Unique Record ID 
  • Full name 
  • Date of birth 
  • Gender 
  • Ethnicity 
  • NHS number 
  • Home postcode and house number 
  • Telephone number and email address 
  • Occupation/key worker type 
  • COVID-19 symptoms, including when they started and their nature 
  • Vulnerability group 
  • Shielded status 

If you have been in close contact with someone who tests positive: 

  • Full name 
  • Date of birth 
  • Contact details 
  • Ethnicity 
  • NHS number 
  • Home postcode and house number 
  • Telephone number and email address 
  • Occupation/key worker type 
  • Details of any COVID-19 symptoms they may have had 
  • Vulnerability group 
  • Shielded status 
Who we may share your information with

Your data may be shared with the following: 

  • Other Local Authorities to enable Environmental Health Officers to assist the establishment and provide advice to contacts 

  • Sub-contractors to deliver support/advice in key sectors (e.g. care homes, education, prisons, housing) 

  • We may need to disclose your name and the fact that you have tested positive to your employer or the operator of an institution where you have spent significant time if this is necessary to avoid or limit a COVID-19 outbreak in the workplace. 

How long we keep your information

The Council is processing this information on behalf of Public Health England and NHS Test and Trace for the purposes of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Royal Borough of Greenwich will only retain your data for as long as required by the Department of Health and Social Care for this purpose.