Important information on how to report cases of coronavirus in your organisation

COVID-19 early outbreak management information has been created by Government to make sure that people who run businesses or organisations:

• know how to recognise and report an incident of coronavirus (COVID-19)
• are aware of measures local health protection teams may advise in order to contain it.

“A COVID-19 outbreak is more than one confirmed case of COVID-19”

The information is contained within a series of ‘action cards’ that have been designed for specific situations where an outbreak could occur, for example on a caravan park, in an office or restaurant.

The action cards provide instructions to anyone responsible for a business or organisation in England on what to do in the event of one or more confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in their organisation.

If an employee’s test for COVID-19 comes back positive, any close contacts should be identified. This includes any is a person who has been close to someone who has tested positive anytime from two days before the person was symptomatic up to 10 days from onset of symptoms. For example, a contact in the workplace can be a person who has had face-to-face contact (within 1 metre), a person who has been within 2 metres of someone who has tested positive for more than 15 minutes, or a person who has travelled in a small vehicle with someone who has tested positive or in a large vehicle near someone who has tested positive (unless wearing PPE).

When to call your local Health Protection Team

You should call your local Health Protection Team (HPE) if the number of cases exceeds five within 14 days, or if you have taken the action outlined but are still seeing more cases. You should also call the HPE if you are thinking you might need to close because of the number of people affected or if somebody in your workplace has been admitted to hospital. You are advised to contact them if you are getting significant interest from local media.

HSE can check the measures they’ve put in place are in line with government guidance.

Where to find other quick reference guides: choose the version for your business type (cleared for use in England only).