HPR volume 14 issue 9 (5 and 19 May)
Updated 23 December 2020
© Crown copyright 2020
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COVID-19 guidance: seventh update
On 11 May 2020, the UK government laid a command paper before parliament, Our plan to rebuild: the UK Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy, outlining how a phased lifting of current COVID-related restrictions on industry and commerce will be achieved.
With the recovery strategy, the government announced the establishment of a new biosecurity monitoring system and a Joint Biosecurity Centre to work on the independent collection and analysis of data on infection rates across the country, including on local community-level rates. They will also advise UK Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) and government on whether change is appropriate to the prevailing COVID-19 Alert Level (currently at Level 4).
For non-healthcare-settings, alongside the recovery strategy, 8 sets of new sector-specific guidance were published on 11 May by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy on the new portal Working safely during coronavirus (COVID-19). This covers: construction, factories, laboratories, offices, homes, restaurants, shops and vehicles.
The Department for Education published updated guidance for educational and schools settings in preparation for the phased opening of schools in the near future.
All COVID-19 related guidance for the public, health professionals and particular occupational groups and sectors was amended to include anosmia (loss of taste or smell) as an indicative symptom of COVID-19 infection.
National Weekly Surveillance Report (NWSR)
The number of institutional COVID-19 outbreaks in England continued to decline, according to data presented in the last-published NWSR.
There were 460 new acute respiratory institutional outbreaks (2 or more people experiencing a similar illness, linked to a particular setting) reported in England in week 19 (compared with 721 in the previous week). Of these, 418 were in care homes (compared with 686 in the previous week), where 160 tested positive for SARS-CoV-2; 12 outbreaks were in hospitals (compared with 9 in the previous week), where 5 tested positive; 1 was in a school (compared with 3 the previous week); 1 in a prison (as in the previous week); and 28 were in other institutions (compared with 22 in the previous week), where 8 tested positive.
The overall epidemic curve for England for week 19 is shown below. In the weekly NWSR report, this curve is presented with age breakdown of each week’s case totals. The NWSR is published on Thursdays, presenting data as at 9:30am on the previous Wednesday of each publication week. It includes infographics and gives more detailed trend information, across a wider range of parameters than the COVID-19: tracker (updated daily).
The epidemic curve for the week-ending Wednesday 13 May (week 19, 2020) is shown below.
Laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases (England) as at 27 May 2020 (by date of specimen collection).
A full explanation of the surveillance outputs covered by the weekly report is given in the latest edition of PHE Health Matters blog ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19): using data to track the virus’.
Health and Safety Executive reminder on water systems safety during the COVID-19 lockdown
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has reminded building occupiers, businesses and other duty holders restarting operations after the COVID-19 shutdown to review their water systems maintenance arrangements to avoid creating a public health hazard from waterborne bacteria such as legionella [1].
Water stagnation, poor temperature control and increased levels of contamination may create a hazard in water systems that have been less frequently used than normal (such as dental or out-patient facilities) or where operation has been suspended (such as leisure, sports, swimming and spa pool facilities).
To prevent such situations leading to outbreaks of legionnaire’s disease, duty holders must take all reasonably practicable precautions to control the risks from build-up of legionella bacteria before recommencing operations.
An HSE bulletin [1] reminds duty holders that:
- water systems supplying ‘critical systems’, such as hospitals, should be continuously maintained in accordance with the Department of Health and Social Care technical memorandum, Safe water in healthcare premises (HTM 04-01)
- evaporative cooling systems should be continuously maintained, or switched off, in accordance with the HSE technical guidance, Legionnaires’ Disease Technical Guidance: The control of legionella bacteria in evaporative cooling systems (HSG 274 part 1)
PHE has published a leaflet covering the types of occupiers that need to take action, carry out risk assessments and implement mitigation measures; the leaflet also signposts to further sources of advice and support [2].
References
- HSE website (18 May). Legionella risks during the coronavirus outbreak.
- PHE Food, Water and Environmental Microbiology Services (19 May). Guidance for all organisations that rely on a safe water supply to undertake their business activities.