Status of COVID-19 - Downgrade! Public Health England

[rrg1]

I have not seen this being announced on BBC or mainstream news. Why?

www.gov.uk/guidance/high-consequence-infectious-diseases-hcid#status-of-covid-19

Status of COVID-19
As of 19 March 2020, COVID-19 is no longer considered to be a high consequence infectious diseases (HCID) in the UK.

The 4 nations public health HCID group made an interim recommendation in January 2020 to classify COVID-19 as an HCID. This was based on consideration of the UK HCID criteria about the virus and the disease with information available during the early stages of the outbreak. Now that more is known about COVID-19, the public health bodies in the UK have reviewed the most up to date information about COVID-19 against the UK HCID criteria. They have determined that several features have now changed; in particular, more information is available about mortality rates (low overall), and there is now greater clinical awareness and a specific and sensitive laboratory test, the availability of which continues to increase.

The Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) is also of the opinion that COVID-19 should no longer be classified as an HCID.

The need to have a national, coordinated response remains, but this is being met by the government’s COVID-19 response.

Cases of COVID-19 are no longer managed by HCID treatment centres only. All healthcare workers managing possible and confirmed cases should follow the updated national infection and prevention (IPC) guidance for COVID-19, which supersedes all previous IPC guidance for COVID-19. This guidance includes instructions about different personal protective equipment (PPE) ensembles that are appropriate for different clinical scenarios.

www.gov.uk/guidance/high-consequence-infectious-diseases-hcid#status-of-covid-19

Bloody hell. You’d have thought that would be reported!

I wonder if they’ve agreed not to so that people still take it seriously and comply with lockdown..

Didn't the UK announce closure of pubs etc. on Friday 20th March?

This came out on 19th March and I have not seen it on any regular news channel. Please correct me, if I am wrong

I have seen this flagged up on my Facebook page already... I guess they didn't want to say anything about it as it could cause people to ignore social distancing measures possibly?

Have you read it in context though? Covid-19 isn’t comparable with Ebola, haemorrhagic fevers or SARS (original) in terms of fatality (which is nice to hear!) so doesn’t fit the criteria for a HCID.

That doesn’t mean it’s not an emergency on a wide scale. As a metaphor is comparing a tsunami to lots of local flooding.

It would take very good, simplistic and non-alarmist reporting to fully convey that in the mainstream press. What would the headline be? Not As Bad As Ebola?

@ShellsAndSunrises I wondered that

I think the whole point of declassifying it was so that it could be treated at any hospital, not just specialist exotic disease centres.

It's not exactly new, and I'm glad it hasn't been widely reported because there are many people who will just think it means that they don't have to follow the current advice.

It changes nothing in terms of the advice given.

It's a classification that initially we knew nothing about how quick it spreads or its mortality rates. But now we know a lot more the classification can be changed. It's still a serious threat, but it's not a blind threat anymore.

I repeat, it changes NOTHING in terms of advice.

.....more like so the government can get the new emergency legislation; Coronavirus bill through parliament, which to say the least has a most questionable 'sunset clause'

think about it, until this date corona patients went to specialist centres. Now its any hospital. So is it relatable to that side of things?

Interesting. Agree with Niffy. Specialist medical treatment was used for the first cases.

NHS mobilised for treatment as the pandemic grew globally.

Well spotted, OP.

My cynical side thinks this may be down to the level of PPE they have to provide. If HCID, what's on offer now is no good.

I think the whole point of declassifying it was so that it could be treated at any hospital, not just specialist exotic disease centres

Agree.

It saddens me a little that this could potentially not be widely reported as it could see people just thinking they can go back to normal straight away, when it says "The need to have a national, coordinated response remains, but this is being met by the government’s COVID-19 response".
Which is stating there is a serious need to do as we are asked right now.
Are peoples comprehension skills really that low? Are so many people so desperate to find a "loophole" that the rest of us aren't allowed to have a bit of hope?
Sorry that went on there for a bit.

Sorry, thread moved on a bit and now been explained, so please ignore my last post.

Yes, the re-classification is pragmatic. However, what about the other 'information' in the video?

Much of what you believe about the virus comes down to how much you trust the government. I'm a government whistle-blower and have lots of first hand experience of how the government/civil service on the whole no longer work for the public good. I've been searching the internet for reports on this government statement and cannot find a single on in any mainstream UK news source. Some local papers picked it up and a few alternative journalism sites. But why no mainstream? Well, the government can and does order black-outs on certain news items. If they did here, the question is why?

What @Kamma89 said

FlameIngSofa
I am totally with you on that and also a former Govt employee.

rrg1
I don't know about you but things began to change big-time about 10-15 years ago. Up to then, most of the people I worked with in Whitehall appeared to want to do good work, help the country and the public. But attitudes started to shift: in my Department, we were told not to speak to the public, for instance, but to just point them to the website (where there was no useful information). Looking back and I can see clearly now (well I have the evidence for it) that industry was also working on the civil service, the standards making bodies, enforcement agencies, etc, to support their aims above the public's needs.

Grenfell Tower fire embodies this change of attitude and the devastation it can bring. Buildings and fire safety regulations had been deliberately weakened in order to benefit industry. And that was done with the collusion of civil servants too weak-willed, or bribed in one form or another, to stand against them.

And at the same time, rich and powerful business people have bought up the mainstream press. One proof of that - as said, the fact you can't find anything in the UK mainstream news media about this announcement by the government which in effect says Covid-19 is just another flu-like virus that is not particularly dangerous.