Guidance

[Withdrawn] Guidance on the investigation and management of COVID-19 in travellers returning from Denmark and their household contacts

Updated 17 November 2020

This guidance was withdrawn on

For current information and guidance see Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2020

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-investigation-and-management-of-travellers-returning-from-denmark-and-their-household-contacts/guidance-on-the-investigation-and-management-of-covid-19-in-travellers-returning-from-denmark-and-their-household-contacts

Introduction

Following widespread outbreaks in mink farms, human mink-variant SARS-CoV-2 infections have recently been identified in Denmark and the government has introduced a ban on visitors from Denmark to the UK.

This guidance provides advice on the investigation and management of patients who have travelled to the UK from Denmark and their household contacts.

From 7 November, only British nationals, residents and hauliers are permitted entry into the UK from Denmark and, along with their households, are required to self-isolate for 14 days.

Anyone who was in Denmark in the 14 days before 7 November will also be required to self-isolate along with their households. In this situation, the length of the traveller’s self-isolation will depend on when they were last in Denmark.

Household contacts should self-isolate for 14 days from the day the traveller returns to the household within their isolation period, irrespective of when they were last in Denmark.

This guidance applies in England.

Symptoms

The most important symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of any of the following:

  • a new continuous cough
  • a high temperature
  • a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

For most people, COVID-19 will be a mild illness. Anyone with any of the symptoms listed above who can do so should stay at home and arrange to have a test.

Accessing routine or elective NHS services

Anyone requiring non-urgent outpatient, ambulatory or primary care or elective treatment should be advised to defer their appointment until their 14 day isolation period has ended.

Accessing emergency NHS services

Patients should still access emergency NHS services due to COVD-19 symptoms or for other, non-COVID reasons. Anyone presenting with COVID-19 symptoms should be asked about recent travel to Denmark or whether they are a household contact of a returning traveller.

Record information on date and place of travel, any contact with animals or confirmed cases of COVID-19, and ensure systems are in place that enable these cases to be easily flagged and identified. This information should be shared with all relevant teams.

Regardless of the reason for their presentation, any individual with a history of travel to Denmark in the preceding 14 days, or their household contact, should immediately be isolated in a single room with en-suite bathroom facilities and tested for COVID-19 using a standard PCR test. They should remain in a single room under strict isolation for the duration of their stay.

Continue to follow current COVID-19 infection prevention and control (IPC) advice and use recommended COVID-19 personal protective protection (PPE) for individuals on the high risk pathway, as mentioned in the recent CAS alert and described in the IPC guidance.

Patients admitted to hospital with a negative test on admission

Patients should be tested every 5 days while they remain in hospital. They should stay in a single room with en-suite bathroom facilities and with appropriate infection control procedures for the duration of their isolation period. If they develop new symptoms compatible with COVID-19 they should be tested again immediately.

Patients admitted to hospital with a positive test on admission or who subsequently test positive

Any patients who test positive should be transferred to a specialised infectious diseases centre. All positive samples should be sent to PHE for whole genome sequencing.

Samples from individuals returning from Denmark within the previous 14 days, or their contacts, where the SARS-CoV-2 infection status is unknown, should should be handled at containment level 2 plus[footnote 1] (or higher) but with no attempt at virus culture. If these samples are found to be positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA, then further laboratory handling of any untreated sample should be at containment level 3, again with no attempt at virus culture. Samples that have undergone a validated inactivation process may be handled at containment level 2 (or above). Viral culture should be performed in the Colindale Reference laboratories along with fast tracking of samples for further analysis.

  1. Conducted in a biosafety level-2 laboratory with biosafety practices and procedures that are typically found at biosafety level-3. ↩

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