COVID-19 update

Public Health England action card update

Public Health England (PHE) revised its outbreak management action cards in January 2021.

These cards give guidance to people who own, manage, or are responsible for a specific type of business on identifying COVID-19 outbreaks, the action to take, and when to report outbreaks to local Health Protection Teams (HPTs).

There are changes from previous versions published. For example, requirements to report a certain number of confirmed COVID-19 cases are no longer in the action card for commercial workplaces (such as offices). In contrast, other industries and workplaces, such as shops and branches, are still requested to contact their HPT for help, including if five COVID-19 cases are identified within a two week period.

In addition to shops and offices mentioned above, there is a range of action cards available for various industries such as hairdressers and spas, pubs and restaurants, education settings, community centres, manufacturing plans, warehouses, cinemas, and arts venues.

You can get the most up to date action cards for England here.

Stricter border controls expected soon

The Government has announced that it will bring in tougher controls to help prevent COVID-19 spreading, particularly new variants discovered in other countries. New measures include:

• Travel declarations for people travelling outside of the UK, with people being refused travel, and possibly fined, if they do not have a valid reason for travel.
• An increased police presence at ports and airports, with fines for people breaching stay at home instructions.
• ‘Managed isolation’ of people entering the UK from countries where travel is currently banned, but travellers cannot be refused entry into the UK. Isolation will be for ten days ‘without exception’.
• Travellers will be responsible for paying for managed isolation themselves, with reports of this costing up to £1,000 for a single person.