Unique symptoms, antigens, genetic code, and testing accuracy for antigens and genetic code for SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Department of Health and Social Care should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Department of Health and Social Care,

Based upon previous responses to my FOI the standard response is
"...it has long been known that viral diseases cannot be identified in this way as viruses cannot be grown in ‘pure culture’.
When a patient is tested for a viral illness, this is normally done by looking for the presence of antigens, or viral genetic code in a host with molecular biology techniques"

Accordingly please provide a full, accurate and complete list of records held within your office, and / or under your authority, supporting the following claims;

1 - Which symptoms uniquely identify COVID-19?
2 - Which viral antigens uniquely identify COVID-19?
3 - Which viral genetic code uniquely identifies SARS-Cov-2?
4 - What is the accuracy of the testing method for unique COVID-19 antigens upon which those governing rely upon, with supporting scientific verification?
5 - What is the accuracy of the testing method for unique SARS-Cov-2 genetic code upon which those governing rely upon, with supporting scientific verification?
6 - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/high-consequ...
shows updates detailing the explanation of the removal of COVID-19 from the HCID list was on the version dated 21 March 2019. However there is no link to the source document.
Please provide source document from "the 4 nations public health HCID group..." that supported the decision that " As of 19 March 2020, COVID-19 is no longer considered to be a high consequence infectious disease (HCID) in the UK.".

If any records match the above description and are available to the public elsewhere, please provide enough information so that I may identify and access each record with certainty (i.e. title, author(s), date, journal, and weblink or location where the public may access it).
I remind you full, accurate and complete disclosure is required.

Yours faithfully,

Marc Horn

Dear Department of Health and Social Care,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department of Health and Social Care's handling of my FOI request 'Unique symptoms, antigens, genetic code, and testing accuracy for antigens and genetic code for SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19'.

You have failed to provide a response within your legally obliged time.

Please provide a response within 3 days

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/u...

Yours faithfully,

Marc Horn

FreedomofInformation, Department of Health and Social Care

Dear Mr Horn,

Thank you for your email. I apologise for the length of time it is taking to respond to your FOI request.

DHSC does not conduct internal reviews until a response to the initial case has been issued. Although organisations can choose to conduct an internal review to assess the handling process where they have taken more than 20 working days to respond, DHSC uses the internal review process once the initial case is complete to ensure that any exemptions that have been used have been applied correctly, and that all information within the scope of the request was considered.

We will therefore not be conducting an internal review. We will respond to your FOI request as soon as we are able.

Yours sincerely,

FOI Team
Department of Health and Social Care

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FreedomofInformation, Department of Health and Social Care

Dear Mr Horn

 

You wrote to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) on 25 August
2020 requesting information about unique symptoms, antigens, genetic code,
and testing accuracy for SARS-CoV-2.  

 

I apologise that we have not yet responded to your request, but as I’m
sure you understand, the FOI team has received an exceptionally large
number of requests during the past few months, at a time when the
Department as a whole is experiencing an unprecedented strain on its
resources in combatting the pandemic, and as a result of this, there are a
number of requests which we have not been able to respond to within the
deadlines.

 

Taking into account how much the situation regarding the pandemic has
changed since you submitted your request, you may feel that the
information you sought is no longer relevant. Please reply to this email
if you would still like a response to your request, and we will answer it
as soon as we are able.  However, if we do not hear from you by 26 April,
we will take it that the requested information is no longer required, and
close your case.

 

You may be aware that the World Health Organisation has compiled a
comprehensive database of research information in relation to Coronavirus,
which is available here (by following the links ‘Research and Development’
>’Global research database’):
[1]https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases...

 

Thank you.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Dorothy Crowe

Freedom of Information Team

[2][email address]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This e-mail and any attachments is intended only for the attention of the
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References

Visible links
1. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases...
2. mailto:[email address]

Dear Dorothy,

Please provide a reply to the requested information as requested on the 28 July 2020.

Yours sincerely,

Marc Horn

Department of Health and Social Care

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Horn,

Please find attached the Department of Health and Social Care's response
to your FOI request (our ref: FOI-1250961 ).

Yours sincerely, 

Le-anne Frankson
Freedom of Information Team
Department of Health and Social Care

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Dear Department of Health and Social Care,

I provide the following response requesting further clarification in regards of
"please can you explain what you mean by ‘uniquely identify’?"
in order for you to be able to respond to questions 1, 2 and 3:

1 - COVID-19 is a specific illness, and as such it must have some specific, or combination of, symptoms by which it can be identified or diagnosed by.
2 - COVID-19 is a specific illness caused by SARS-CoV2 virus. Hence it will cause a unique antigen to be produced by the immune system to fight infection which can then be tested for in diagnosis.
3 - SARS-CoV-2 is a specific virus. and as such it must have a specific genetic code (without which it cannot be claimed to exist) to be able to identify it, hence what are the unique features within the genetic code that make SARS-CoV2 different by which it can be specifically identified to be present?

I trust this clarifies your questions and await your prompt reply.

Yours faithfully,

Marc Horn

Department of Health and Social Care

This is an acknowledgement - please do not reply to this email.

Thank you for contacting the Department of Health and Social Care. 

We are currently experiencing very high volumes of enquiries and we are
focusing our resources on the Coronavirus (COVID-19) response.

If your enquiry is in relation to the pandemic, the Government has
launched a COVID-19 ‘hub’, which can be found
at [1]www.gov.uk/coronavirus and is regularly updated. 

The answers to many other questions can be found on [2]GOV.UK,
the [3]Department of Health and Social Care website or by visiting
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enquiry can be found on either of these websites. Where a reply is
appropriate, we aim to send a response within 18 working days, or 20
working days if your query is a Freedom of Information request or
complaint.
 
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A list of the current exemptions on medical and compassionate grounds can
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If you wish to make a complaint about a healthcare professional, an NHS
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If you would like to raise your concerns about a COVID-19 testing
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Our [16]Personal information charter and [17]privacy notice explain how we
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This e-mail and any attachments is intended only for the attention of the
addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not
permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all
copies and inform the sender by return e-mail. Any views expressed in this
message are not necessarily those of the Department of Health and Social
Care. Please note: Incoming and outgoing email messages are routinely
monitored for compliance with our policy on the use of electronic
communications.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
2. https://www.gov.uk/
3. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
4. https://www.nhs.uk/
5. https://digital.nhs.uk/coronavirus/vacci...
6. https://www.gov.uk/getting-tested-for-co...
7. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/help-the-gov...
8. https://www.supplychain.nhs.uk/
9. mailto:[email address]
10. mailto:[email address]
11. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/exemptions-f...
12. https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...
13. https://dhexchange.kahootz.com/MQS.lands...
14. https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/about-t...
15. https://enquiries.test-and-trace.nhs.uk/...
16. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
17. https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...