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.