The responsibility for delivery of testing in NHS settings will transfer to the NHS from October. Testing has been prioritised for symptomatic cases and outbreak management, and we have moved to predominant use of responsive LFD tests rather than PCR although the latter are readily available for all clinical appropriately use contexts. The amount of routine asymptomatic testing in healthcare and social care settings has reduced in line with the epidemiological context and vaccination continues to be focused to protect those at higher risk of lowering immunity. The COVID Spring Booster programme is well underway, and planning is already in progress for a possible Autumn Booster campaign.Īs of 1 April, changes have been made to the ongoing setting-specific testing regimes. Hospital admissions and occupancy related to COVID have been declining for several weeks and there are no current signals of a change in this pattern. Our ongoing management of COVID-19 continues on a business-as-usual approach, more akin to our management of other respiratory viruses. We have published a technical briefing note to support ongoing retrospective and enhanced surveillance which was published in the first week of May. We are working closely with Public Health Wales and the WHO. There do not appear to be cases elsewhere in the country, and there are no reports of similar clusters around the world. The majority occurred from September to December 2022. All of those confirmed to date are geographically clustered in South-West England and South Wales. We are also jointly investigating, with Public Health Wales, an exceedance of cases of severe myocarditis (heart inflammation) associated with enterovirus infection in babies in the first month of life. Proactive UKHSA media coverage in May has encouraged parents to check their children’s vaccination records, especially before travelling overseas, and healthcare professionals to ensure appropriate sampling is carried out for every case. Indonesia has reported a particularly notable increase in incidence of measles driven by low levels of population immunity, including in unvaccinated children. The World Health Organisation (WHO) Europe has called for urgent action to address the decreasing levels of immunity. Globally levels of immunity to measles have fallen and childhood coverage of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine in England is at its lowest level in a decade - 89% in 2 year olds and 85% in 5 year olds, well below the 95% target. Since the start of 2023, 49 cases have been confirmed in England, compared to 54 across the whole of 2022. As a result of the non-pharmaceutical interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic measles incidence had fallen from the high level seen in 2019, when epidemics were occurring across all of Europe. With regard to infectious diseases more widely, there has been a significant increase in measles cases in the UK, and a UKHSA health protection briefing has been issued to partners outlining actions put in place to reduce the risk of wider resurgence. The incident will continue to be monitored under routine incident response arrangements. ![]() 19/20) five-year average – noting that rates still remain relatively high in keeping with the normal seasonal peak time. ![]() After an atypical peak before Christmas, invasive group A streptococcal disease (iGAS) cases continue to decline and are now close to the pre-pandemic (i.e. Conversely, we are seeing an increase in primary care presentations of allergic rhinitis linked to increases in tree pollen in line with seasonal expectations. Flu and other seasonal respiratory conditions have fallen and remain stable at a low level. The trends we are observing for seasonal conditions are now broadly as we would expect for this time of year. Since the Advisory Board last met in March, pressure on NHS healthcare services from infectious disease over the winter period has eased. Overview and update – achievements and challenges The Advisory Board is asked to note the update. This report gives a brief overview of the recent operational and response status of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) since the last Advisory Board. Sponsor: Jenny Harries, Chief Executive Purpose of the paper
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |