Skip to main content

DS Risk Warning: Health




Hello all,

We hope the storm hasn't caused you too many problems.

Today's news is that the Government has now announced that Coronavirus is a "serious and imminent threat" to public health.

This will, no doubt, increase the numbers of you being questioned about what you are doing. As previously advised you might reply along the lines of the usual best practice of Catch It, Bin IT, Kill It including all that best practice on hand washing, cleaning common use surfaces, etc. All this alongside keeping a close eye the government's advice on compulsory and voluntary quarantine.

The report goes on to say:

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has announced new measures in England to fight the spread of the virus.

These include additional powers to keep individuals in "supported isolation for their own safety", the Department of Health said.

There have been more than 40,000 cases of the virus globally, mostly in China, with four so far in the UK.

The total number of deaths in China is now 908 - but the number of newly-infected people per day has stabilised.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: "We are strengthening our regulations so we can keep individuals in supported isolation for their own safety and if public health professionals consider they may be at risk of spreading the virus to other members of the public.

"This measure will rightly make it easier for health professionals to help keep people safe across the country."

Arrowe Park Hospital, on the Wirral, and Kents Hill Park, in Milton Keynes, have been designated as "isolation" facilities in the UK.

A visit to the Government web site includes this update too:


Based on the World Health Organization’s declaration that this is a public health emergency of international concern, the UK Chief Medical Officers have raised the risk to the public from low to moderate. This permits the government to plan for all eventualities. The risk to individuals remains low.

Based on the scientific advice of SAGE the UK Chief Medical Officers are advising anyone who has travelled to the UK from mainland China, Thailand, Japan, Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia or Macau in the last 14 days and is experiencing cough or fever or shortness of breath, to stay indoors and call NHS 111, even if symptoms are mild.

These areas have been identified because of the volume of air travel from affected areas, understanding of other travel routes and number of reported cases. This list will be kept under review. Our advice for travellers from Wuhan and Hubei Province remains unchanged.

****

We'll keep an eye on this developing situation and update you as necessary.

Bill

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

DS Risk Warning: Health - Coronavirus/Covid 19

Hello all, You may well have already heard or seen that as a result of the Government's meeting today on this issue they have moved to a different level of response to the virus and its progress namely DELAY. After reading the following and reflecting on it you may come to the conclusion a communication to all staff and another to parent/carers would be timely, as soon as possible, to try to stave off issues on site tomorrow morning. With immediate effect the advice is that anyone with a new persistent cough or high temperature should self-isolate for seven days. From Friday, school trips abroad will be banned. This should trigger the ability to claim from your insurers but there's no compensation for the disappointment and lost opportunity, of course. Older people and those with pre-existing health conditions are being told not to go on cruises. PM Boris Johnson said it was "the worst public health crisis for a generation".   He said there was no...

Delegated Services Risk Warning: Weather; Snow and Ice

Hello all, On the basis of the current forecast projection, coming to a conclusion on business as usual on Friday is very difficult to call. You'll see from the risk matrix below and description that things are moving in the higher impact direction for snow on the way home and overnight on Thursday, with things easing in the early hours and into the morning. However, there's still the caveat that a lot of it could be rain! If snow, the description may mean that it will be possible to have motorways and the majority of principal gritted routes open and, therefore, public transport running for the journey to work. My call at the moment is that it looks like an early curtain open and radio on for Friday morning to see what we face. It could vary markedly across the staff team's travel to work area. Make sure your communication cascade to all method is ready, up to date and has capacity if many have to use it. It may be a 'we are open' on a rolling basis will ...

DS Risk Warning: Health - Cornavirus/Covid 19

Priority Wed, 26 Feb, 20 Hello all, Looking at how things are progressing and supporting you with your many enquiries can we suggest, if you haven't done so already, a communication to your community and staff? The content would be to reassure that you are following the national and local advice. You could then copy and paste the advice from yesterday that includes the list of Category 1 and Category 2 locations and the list of Italian lock down villages. If you can you can go on to say nobody has returned from lock down areas anywhere in the world. Some have returned from areas where the advice is clear on being vigilant in case symptoms appear. If that were to be the case they will then follow the self isolate advice, etc. it would be sensible to recognise that the situation is very dynamic and could already be changing as you send your communication. You will update them on your position if anything material changes, but they can also keep up to date ...