Coronavirus Act 2020

PART 1 Overview and interpretation

Overview

1 (1) Parts 2 to 5 of this Schedule—

(a) confer powers on public health officers, constables and immigration officers in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and

(b) make related provision.

(2) This Part of this Schedule contains provision relating to the interpretation of Parts 2 to 5.

Potentially infectious persons

2 (1) For the purposes of this Schedule, a person is “potentially infectious” at any time if—

(a) the person is, or may be, infected or contaminated with coronavirus, and there is a risk that the person might infect or contaminate others with coronavirus, or

(b) the person has been in an infected area within the 14 days preceding that time.

(2) For the purposes of this paragraph, “infected area” means any country, territory or other area outside the United Kingdom which the Secretary of State has declared as a country, territory or area—

(a) where there is known or thought to be sustained human-to-human transmission of coronavirus, or

(b) from which there is a high risk that coronavirus will be transmitted to the United Kingdom.

(3) A declaration under sub-paragraph (2)—

(a) is to be made by being published online, and

(b) must, as soon as reasonably practicable after it is made, also be published in the London Gazette.

Other definitions

3 (1) In this Schedule—

• “assessment”, in relation to a person, means assessment of the measures that it would be appropriate to take in relation to the person (under this Schedule or otherwise) to mitigate the risk that the person might infect or contaminate others with coronavirus;

• “biological sample” includes a sample of blood or respiratory secretions (including a sample of such secretions taken by a swab of the nasopharyngeal cavity);

• “immigration officer” means a person appointed by the Secretary of State as an immigration officer under paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 to the Immigration Act 1971;

• “screening”, in relation to a person, means—

  (a)

  assessing the extent to which a person has been exposed to coronavirus,

  (b)

  determining whether the person is infected or contaminated with coronavirus, and

  (c)

  assessing the person’s symptoms and state of health.

(2) “Public health officer” means—

(a) in Part 2 of this Schedule—

(i) an officer of the Secretary of State designated by the Secretary of State for any or all of the purposes of this Schedule, or

(ii) a registered public health consultant so designated;

(b) in Part 3 of this Schedule—

(i) a person designated by the Scottish Ministers for any or all of the purposes of this Schedule,

(ii) a person designated by a Health Board (see section 2(1)(a) of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978) for any or all of the purposes of this Schedule, or

(iii) a person designated under section 3(1) of the Public Health etc. (Scotland) Act 2008 (asp 5) as a health board competent person;

(c) in Part 4 of this Schedule—

(i) an officer of the Welsh Ministers designated by them for any or all of the purposes of this Schedule, or

(ii) a registered public health consultant so designated;

(d) in Part 5 of this Schedule—

(i) an officer of the Regional Agency for Public Health and Social Well-being, or

(ii) a person acting under the direction or advice of the Director of Public Health in Northern Ireland under arrangements for preventing or controlling the transmission of coronavirus.

(3) A designation under sub-paragraph (2) may in particular be of a class or description of person.

(4) In this Schedule references to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland include the territorial sea adjacent to those parts of the United Kingdom respectively.