What COVID-19 surveillance measures will the Welsh Government activate this autumn and winter to protect people with weakened immune systems in Wales who remain vulnerable to COVID-19?
Public Health Wales (PHW) leads on respiratory surveillance and is implementing an integrated respiratory surveillance plan, in line with principles of surveillance recommended by the World Health Organisation and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. This considers COVID-19 alongside other respiratory pathogens and assesses the impact of these pathogens at different levels from asymptomatic to severe hospitalised cases.
We have under the integrated respiratory surveillance plan provided funding to PHW to develop and extend its community sentinel surveillance system. This has included expansion and re-engagement work for the sentinel GP surveillance network yielding a more than 10-fold increase in community sampling compared to pre-2020. Following successful piloting of a sentinel community pharmacy network, rapid expansion is now underway to further improve community sampling from patients with acute respiratory infections.
There is also an ongoing SARI surveillance programme, whereby patients presenting to secondary care with acute respiratory illness undergo respiratory multiplex testing which can identify multiple pathogens.
People who are at high risk of becoming severely ill due to COVID-19 may be eligible to receive anti-viral treatment to help manage symptoms and reduce the risk of becoming severely unwell. Systems are in place whereby those who are eligible for COVID-19 treatment will be contacted within 48 hours of testing positive.