DS Risk Warning: Health Confidential x Priority Hello all, It is apparent, from the emails and calls received from you, that you won't escape anything from worrying disengagement from the issues around Coronavirus through to total overreaction and panic. The World Health Organisation has now declared a Global Health Emergency. The WHO declares a Public Health Emergency of International Concern when there is "an extraordinary event which is determined… to constitute a public health risk to other states through the international spread of disease". It has previously declared five global public health emergencies:  "The main reason for this declaration is not what is happening in China but what is happening in other countries," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The concern is that it could spread to countries with weaker health systems. At least 213 people in the China have died fr...

Hello all, A pandemic remains as one of the top national risk register threats to the country. The coronavirus reinforces why. What does your risk register say about it and its mitigation? Does it need review in the circumstances? The new coronavirus is thought to have emerged from illegally traded wildlife at a seafood market in Wuhan and can now spread between people. Chinese authorities over the weekend said the virus was - like a normal flu - able to spread during its incubation period and before any symptoms appeared. This would set it apart from cases like Sars and Ebola and make it much harder to contain. The incubation period can range from two to 10 days, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Yesterday Hancock, the Health and Social Care Secretary said anyone who has returned to Britain from Wuhan in China in the last fortnight should self-isolate and stay indoors. As of 1400 GMT on Monday, Britain had tested 73 people for the W...