Town Close School Covid-19 (Coronavirus) Update

At Town Close, the safety of our pupils and our staff is of paramount importance. Like many schools, we are closely monitoring the ongoing Covid-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak globally and adhering to the the advice and guidance issued by the Department for Education and relevant regulatory bodies including:

Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)

Public Health England (PHE)

UK Chief Medical Officers (CMOs)

NHS UK

The latest advice from the Department for Education (26/02/2020) is as follows:

Public Health England advises that the risk to individuals in the UK remains low.

Advice for those who have travelled recently:

Yesterday, the Chief Medical Advisor for England, Chris Whitty updated advice for travellers returning to the UK from specific areas affected by COVID-19, which you can find at:

https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

If you have returned from the following specific areas since 19th February, you should call NHS 111 and stay indoors and avoid contact with other people even if you do not have symptoms:

• Iran
• Specific lockdown areas in Northern Italy (see link to maps below)
• Special care zones in South Korea (see link to maps below)
• Hubei province in China (returned in the past 14 days – see link to maps below)

If you have returned from the following areas since 19 February and develop symptoms, however mild, you should stay indoors at home and avoid contact with other people immediately and call NHS 111:

• Northern Italy (defined by a line above, and not including, Pisa, Florence and Rimini – see link to maps below)
• Vietnam
• Cambodia
• Laos
• Myanmar

If you have a cough, or fever or shortness of breath and have visited any of the following areas in the last 14 days, stay indoors and call NHS 111 informing them of your recent travel:

• China, apart from Hubei province (see link to maps below)
• Thailand
• Japan
• Republic of Korea, apart from special care zones (see link to maps below)
• Hong Kong
• Taiwan
• Singapore
• Malaysia
• Macau

Maps showing affected regions of China, Republic of Korea and Italy:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-specified-countries-and-areas

Advice for those who have travelled recently in a group, such as a school trip

There is no need to manage returning groups any differently. Pupils, students and staff returning from trips to the countries specified above should follow the same advice.

Where to find the latest information:

Public Health England blog:
https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2020/01/23/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-what-you-need-to-know/

If you have any questions that are not answered by the guidance given here or via the relevant links, or if you need to report self-isolation, please contact Mr Bevington (head@townclose.com) in the first instance.

*Parents, staff and pupils should remember that Town Close is not a medical authority, nor is the guidance intended as legal advice, and any decisions in this area will involve medical professionals and wider advice from health authorities.