The Health Protection (Notification) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2020

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Health Protection (Notification) (Wales) Regulations 2010 (“the 2010 Regulations”) which place obligations on various persons for the purpose of preventing, protecting against, controlling or providing a public health response to the incidence or spread of infection or contamination.

Regulation 2(2) inserts “Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)” into Schedule 1 to the 2010 Regulations for the purposes of adding this to the list of “Diseases and Syndromes” for which there is a duty upon medical practitioners to notify a relevant local authority if a patient they are attending is believed to have such a disease or syndrome. This extends to the notification of suspected disease, infection or contamination in a dead body.

Regulation 2(3) inserts “Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)” into Schedule 2 to the 2010 Regulations for the purposes of adding this to the list of “Causative agents” for which there is a duty upon operators of diagnostic laboratories to notify a relevant local authority if they identify an agent, or evidence of such an agent, in a human sample.

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.