The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 5) (Wales) (Amendment) (No. 18) Regulations 2021

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

Part 2A of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 enables the Welsh Ministers, by regulations, to make provision for the purpose of preventing, protecting against, controlling or providing a public health response to the incidence or spread of infection or contamination in Wales.

These Regulations are made in response to the serious and imminent threat to public health which is posed by the incidence and spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Wales.

These Regulations amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 5) (Wales) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1609 (W. 335)) (“the principal Regulations”) to—

• clarify that a person who would otherwise be required to isolate under regulation 6, 7 or 8 of the principal Regulations may leave and be outside of the place where they are living for as long as is necessary—

  • to prevent illness, injury or other risk of harm to another person (“A”) where it is not possible or practicable for somebody else to assist A, the person is not assisting A as part of the person’s work or through providing voluntary services, and the risk of harm to A is greater than the risk of harm to A that arises from being in the same place as the person who would otherwise have to isolate;

  • to move to a different place to live to prevent illness to another person who lives in the place where the person is living;

• clarify that where a contact tracer is deciding whether to ask a person for evidence that they have been fully vaccinated or have participated in a clinical trial (before the person can rely on the relevant exemption to the requirement to isolate under regulation 8 of the principal Regulations after close contact with a positive case), a contact tracer can access and use the person’s vaccination record or record of participation in a clinical trial;

• provide that a contact tracer may only disclose such information about a person’s vaccine status or a person’s participation in a clinical trial as is necessary for the person receiving the information to have for the purposes of carrying out a function under the principal Regulations, preventing danger to the health of the public, monitoring the spread of coronavirus, or for a purpose that is connected to any of these matters;

• omit the spent transitional provision at regulation 10A of the principal Regulations;

• clarify that regulation 57(9) of the principal Regulations, which makes provision in relation to when a gathering or event is not to be treated as being “outdoors”, applies to all gatherings and events.

These Regulations also amend the new regulation 16A to be inserted into the principal Regulations at 7.00 a.m. on 11 October 2021 by the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 5) (Wales) (Amendment) (No. 17) Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/1119 (W. 271)).

Regulation 16A(1) requires the person responsible for certain premises to take reasonable measures to ensure that an adult is permitted to be present on the premises only if they have evidence of particular matters, including vaccination with an authorised vaccine. These Regulations amend regulation 16A, before it comes into force, to provide that evidence of the following is acceptable for the purposes of regulation 16A(1)—

• vaccination in the United Kingdom or a specified country with a dose of one authorised vaccine and a dose of a different authorised vaccine;

• vaccination under the United Kingdom vaccine roll-out overseas in accordance with the manufacturer’s guidance for the vaccine, or with a dose of one vaccine and a dose of a different vaccine.

The amendments also—

• add Australia and Canada to the list of specified countries in regulation 16A(11), so that evidence of vaccination in those countries with vaccines authorised by those countries’ regulators is acceptable for the purposes of regulation 16A(1);

• further expand the list of specified countries (by inserting new paragraph (12) into regulation 16A), so that evidence of vaccination in those countries with vaccines authorised in the United Kingdom is also acceptable;

• provide that evidence of vaccination in a specified country may be in the form of a vaccine certificate issued by the competent health authority of that country.

These amendments to regulation 16A are required to maintain consistency with regulation 2A of the Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) (Wales) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/574 (W. 132)), as amended by the Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel, Operator Liability and Public Health Information to Travellers) (Wales) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 3) Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/1109 (W. 265)), from 4 October 2021 and by the Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) (Wales) (Amendment) (No. 11) Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/1126 (W. 273)) from 11 October 2021. Regulation 2A provides that a person arriving in Wales from outside the common travel area is subject to reduced coronavirus testing requirements if they have been vaccinated with a qualifying vaccine, and regulation 16A of the principal Regulations provides that evidence of vaccination with the same qualifying vaccine is acceptable for the purposes of regulation 16A(1).

Regulation 16A is also amended to make it clear that a person participating in a religious service in premises ordinarily used as a place of worship is considered to be normally seated. This means that the requirements of regulation 16A(1) do not apply to a religious service of more than 500 people indoors in premises ordinarily used as a place of worship, which in practice means that those requirements don’t apply to any religious service held in premises ordinarily used as a place of worship.

The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, a regulatory impact assessment has not been prepared as to the likely cost and benefit of complying with these Regulations.