Report of the Director of Public Health

This report provides more detailed information on the national, Greater Manchester and Manchester approach to Test and Trace and the development of the Manchester COVID-19 Management Plan, referred to in the overarching COVID-19 Update Report.  The Manchester Test and Trace Team went “live” on Monday 8th June and the Director of Public Health is the Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for the development of the COVID-19 Management Plan.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Public Health that provided detailed information on the national, Greater Manchester and Manchester approach to Test and Trace and the development of the Manchester COVID-19 Management Plan, referred to in the overarching COVID-19 Update Report.  The Manchester Test and Trace Team went “live” on Monday 8 June 2020 and the Director of Public Health was the Senior Responsible Officer for the development of the COVID-19 Management Plan.

Officers referred to the main points and themes within the report which included: -

·         Providing a summary of the national NHS Test and Trace service launched by the UK Government on 28th May 2020;

·         Describing the approach to test and trace in Greater Manchester and Manchester Test, Trace, Contain and Enable (TTCE), noting that the GM TTCE approach would involve the creation of 10 bespoke Local Outbreak Control Plans;

·         The Manchester Public Health Team were currently collating the production of the Manchester Local Outbreak Control Plan (COVID-19 Management Plan) across a range of settings;

·         Locality roles and responsibilities and GM Roles and Responsibilities and identified priorities; and

·         Noting that the Director of Public Health at the City Council would lead the development of the Manchester COVID-19 Management Plan with local partners.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were: -

·         Recent reports in the media suggested that meat and food processing plants were susceptible to outbreaks of COVID-19 and what was being done to monitor these locally;

·         Following the announcement that lockdown rules were to be relaxed what were the concerns regarding further outbreaks and how would this be managed;

·         What reassurance could be offered to residents concerned about leaving their contact details with premises; and

·         What guidance and support was being offered to the many different businesses across the city.

The Consultant in Public Health addressed the comments regarding meat and food processing plants by reporting that colleagues from Environmental Health were supporting this activity and all such sites had been identified and a Greater Manchester plan was developed to manage and support such sites. In regard to any concerns residents may have when requested to leaving personal contact details with premises, such as pubs or restaurants it was important to emphasise that this information would only ever be used to contact them to alert them in the event of another patron who then subsequently reported symptoms. She stated that it was then vital if contacted to follow the advice and guidance given to prevent a further outbreak.

The Director of Public Health stated that whilst he acknowledged the messages and instructions from Government were changing it was important that the advice and messages given to the public were clear to minimise the risk of further infections. He said that this information would continue to be reviewed following any Government announcements.

The Director of Public Health reiterated the statement regarding personal information only ever being used for tracing purposes and that if contact was required, a telephone call would be made rather than relying on the use of an app. With regard to guidance and advice to business he stated that colleagues within Environmental Health would assist with this as they had established relationships with businesses across the city.

Decision

To note the report.