Latest update: Wuhan Coronavirus
Public Health England (PHE) has published guidance for schools and other educational settings about how they should respond to the threat of coronavirus, including a poster that all education settings should display to advise staff, students, parents and carers about how to help prevent the spread of the virus. *A new landscape version of the poster has now been added*
Schools are advised to call 111 if pupils or staff become unwell and believe they have been exposed to the virus (or 999 if they are seriously ill or their life is at risk). Schools should also call 111 if they have pupils or staff who have recently travelled to key infected areas, even if they are well. The full list and advert for returning travellers can be found here.
Anyone who is unwell and believed to have been exposed to the virus should be kept at least two metres away from others – if possible, schools are advised to find a room where the person can be isolated, e.g. a staff office.
The agency confirmed that there is no need for schools to close if they suspect exposure to the virus. If a positive case is confirmed, one of PHE’s health protection teams will help schools conduct a risk assessment to determine whether closure is required.
Department of Education have launched a new helpline to answer questions about COVID-19 related to education. Staff, parents and young people can contact the helpline as follows:
Phone: 0800 046 8687
Email: DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk
Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday)
Free online learning programme
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has worked with Future Learn to develop a new free to access online learning programme on COVID-19. The training will be available from 23 March.
Key advice for returning travellers
Information for returning travellers is regularly updated to include new countries as appropriate, with specific advice depending on the area/towns in the countries that they may have been to/through. Please note that there has been a change on 6th March 2020 to include advice for travellers from the whole of Italy, rather than just Northern Italy:
Detailed information and advice for the public can be found on the NHS.uk website (and will be regularly updated): https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
Further information for the public about the situation can be found here (and will be regularly updated): https://www.gov.uk/guidance/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-information-for-the-public
Current situation
here are currently several cases in the UK where infection hasn’t been linked to travel, or to someone has recently travelled, and so it is thought that there is a small degree of community transmission. We have also had three cases reported in the West Midlands region, but not currently in Coventry or Warwickshire. However, we are preparing for our first cases.
A new national plan has been published, and a scenario where we see much wider community transmission is being planned for:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-action-plan
To date there are 115 patients in England who have tested positive for COVID-19 to date, none of whom are in the West Midlands region. Of the remaining 17968 tests that have been undertaken in the UK, all have been confirmed as negative.
Travel advice
Current advice is against all travel to Hubei province, and all but essential travel to the rest of mainland China (with the exception of Hong Kong and Macao). British nationals are also now advised to leave China if they are able.
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office also advise against all travel to Daegu and all but essential travel to Cheongdo in South Korea, and ten small towns in the Lombardy region and one in the Veneto region of Italy, due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
Updated travel advice can be found here (this is regularly updated): https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-advice-novel-coronavirus
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