On 3 March 2020, the Department of Health and Social Care released an action plan to tackle COVID-19.
The plan outlines what the health and social care system across the UK has done to tackle the coronavirus outbreak, and what it plans to do next.
The overall phases of the Government’s plan are:
- Contain: detect early cases, follow up close contacts, and prevent the disease taking hold in the UK for as long as is reasonably possible.
- Delay: slow the spread in the UK, and lowering the peak impact and pushing it away from the winter season if it does take hold.
- Research: better understand the virus and the actions that will lessen its effect on the UK population; innovate responses including diagnostics, drugs and vaccines; use the evidence to inform the development of the most effective models of care.
- Mitigate: provide the best care possible for people who become ill, support hospitals to maintain essential services and ensure ongoing support for people ill in the community to minimise the overall impact of the disease on society, public services and on the economy.
The action plan can be read in full here.