Covid 19 High Consequence Infectious Disease Classification

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens,

Please see the following link which contains the information...

'The Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) is also of the opinion that COVID-19 should no longer be classified as an HCID.'

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/high-consequ...

What information or research have you used to base this opinion on please. I would appreciate links to this information if possible, thank you

Yours faithfully,

Michael Hibberd

Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens

Dear Mr Hibberd,

Thank you for your email. Your request is being answered under the classification of a 'normal business' request, this in no way diminishes the importance of your enquiry, but ensures we can quickly respond without the necessity to route the request through a formal FOI process.

Had we chosen to answer formally under FOI the response you received from us would have been identical.

You addressed your request to the Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens. The Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) is an expert committee of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). ACDP provide independent scientific advice to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Public Health England (PHE) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Ministers through DHSC and their counterparts under devolution in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, on all aspects of hazards and risks to workers and others from exposure to pathogens. HSE can request, along with other Departments and Devolved Administrations, independent scientific advice from ACDP on all aspects of hazards and risks to workers and others from exposure to pathogens. HSE is an observer at ACDP meetings and does not participate in the independent discussions; this would include any discussions in relation to the classification of CoVid-19 as HCID.

If you require information regarding COVID-19 no longer being classified as an HCID from the Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens you would need to direct a new request to them. The contact details for ACDP can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/adv...

Yours sincerely,

Admin Team Leader, Microbiology and Biotechnology Unit
Redgrave Court, Merton Road, Bootle, Merseyside, L20 7HS

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Dear Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens,

Thank you for your reply, although I do not really understand why you are redirecting me and my enquiry. I have also now seen the minutes from the ACDP Covid 19 meeting on the 13th March 2020, reference ACDP_COVID-19_M02, where the committee unanimously agreed that COVID 19 should not be classified as a HCID.

All I would like to know is why the committee came to this decision, and what evidence they had used to come to this decision. Please could you advise accordingly

Yours faithfully,

Michael Hibberd