COVID-19 was first identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and has since spread to many countries. The London Borough of Hackney and the City of London Corporation have had plans in place for many years, to respond to an outbreak of an influenza-like-illness (ILI). Our local response to COVID-19 builds upon a comprehensive pandemic influenza plan that was developed to respond to outbreaks of various intensities and has been routinely revised and updated. In addition, since the beginning of the outbreak, a lot has been learned about the epidemiology, spread and containment of this infection and that learning has informed development of further guidance. Local authorities (public health and environmental health teams) and Public Health England (PHE) have the primary responsibility for the delivery and management of public health actions to be taken in relation to outbreaks of communicable disease, through local Health Protection Partnerships (sometimes these are called Local Health Resilience Partnerships) and local memoranda of understanding. These arrangements are clarified in the 2013 guidance Health Protection in Local Government1. Therefore, it is imperative that local authority develops a plan, in collaboration with Health Resilience Forum partners, to enable us to prepare effectively for local outbreaks of COVID-19 and work together to manage them.
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