The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak continues to evolve. The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) currently advise British nationals against all but essential travel, exempting some countries that no longer pose an unacceptably high risk for British travellers. This advice is being kept under constant review and may change at short notice, further information can be found on the FCO website.

The fitfortravel (for the general public) and TRAVAX (for health professionals) country pages have been updated to include a COVID-19 country specific risk-rating, with every country being identified as high, moderate or low risk and each rating accompanied by appropriate travel advice. This information will be listed in the ‘Alerts’ section on each country page of fitfortravel and the 'Emerging Health Risks' section of every TRAVAX country page. The risk-rating is based on a robust public health assessment of the COVID-19 risks for travellers to each country, and will be regularly reviewed. However, as the global spread of COVID-19 can change at any time, travellers are advised to consider the advice below before planning international travel.

It should be noted that the risk ratings for Aruba, Austria, France, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Spain, Belgium, Andorra, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, Iceland, Sint Maarten, Turks and Caicos Islands, Cyprus, Denmark, Faroe islands, Germany, Japan, the Bahamas, Italy, French Polynesia, Croatia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Czech Republic and Switzerland have recently been upgraded, reflecting an increase of cases in these countries.

Advice for travellers

Before planning and/or booking international travel, please check: 

• the UK Border Control website, in order to check current rules regarding self-isolation (quarantine) before your planned return to the UK 
• the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) website, for country specific Travel Advisory Notices regarding travel and entry restrictions, and review the local medical care available at your destination 
• the COVID-19 risk-rating at your destination, which will be listed in the ‘Alerts’ section of all fitfortravel country pages and the ‘Emerging Health Risks’ section of all TRAVAX country pages 
• the TRAVAX travel insurance page, as such insurance should be considered essential 
• the fitfortravel COVID-19 health considerations for travel page 
• physical distancing and hygiene measures in the country you are visiting

Information relating to travel and COVID-19 is available on the TRAVAX (for healthcare practitioners) and fitfortravel (for the general public) websites.

Information on COVID-19 for the general public is available on the NHS Inform (Scotland) and the NHS.UK (rest of the UK) websites. 

Information and resources on COVID-19 for health professionals is available on the Health Protection Scotland (HPS) (Scotland) and Public Health England (PHE) (rest of the UK) websites.

Source: TRAVAX, July 2020        

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) periodically publishes influenza characterisation reports, giving an overview of circulating influenza viruses. These reports provide details on the current vaccine strains, summarise the development of the viruses since the last report and closely follow the main developments for the ongoing influenza season.

On 24 August 2020, the ECDC published the ninth virus characterisation report for the 2019 to 2020 influenza season. As of week 30 in 2020, a total of 164,887 influenza detections had been reported across the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region. Of these, 73% were type A viruses, with A(H1N1)pdm09 prevailing over A(H3N2), and 27% type B viruses, with 4,479 (98%) of 4,505 ascribed to a B/Victoria lineage.

Source: ECDC, 24 August 2020

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has published its annual epidemiological report concerning communicable disease threats to public health in the EU.

The report covers the events, threats and actions taken in 2019, related to the findings of routine activities carried out by the ECDC epidemic intelligence team. The objective of epidemic intelligence at ECDC is to rapidly detect and assess public health events of any origin to ensure EU health security.

Source: ECDC, 24 August 2020

On 25 August 2020, the African Regional Certification Commission certified the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region as wild polio free, after four years without a case. This means that five of the six WHO regions, representing over 90% of the world’s population, are now free of the wild poliovirus.

The WHO is calling for continued commitment to strengthening immunisation and health systems in the African region, in order to protect progress made against wild polio transmission, and to tackle the spread of type 2 circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV2), which is present in 16 countries in the region. Pockets of low immunity mean such strains continue to pose a threat and the risk is magnified by interruptions in vaccination due to COVID-19, which have left communities potentially more vulnerable to cVDPV2 outbreaks.

Source: WHO, 25 August 2020

Food Standards Scotland (FSS) has published its latest report on food and drink retail purchase in Scotland between 2014 and 2018, providing an update and further insight into price promotions, purchase of regular soft drinks, and pack sizes of confectionery, crisps and savoury snacks.

In key findings from the report:

• Purchase of calories, total fat, saturated fat and sodium increased between 2014 and 2018, whilst purchase of total sugar decreased over this time period.
• Discretionary foods continue to contribute disproportionately to total purchase of calories, fats and sugars, showing little change since 2014.
• Purchase of regular soft drinks decreased, leading to a reduction in total sugar purchased from soft drinks. Despite this reduction, there was also a large increase in purchase of regular soft drinks exempt from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL).
• In 2018, 32% of calories were purchased on price promotion, a decrease from 41% in 2014 and 2015. Purchase on promotions remains skewed towards less healthy and discretionary products, such as confectionery, cakes, biscuits, pastries and crisps.

Source: FSS, 20 August 2020

Food Standards Scotland (FSS) has highlighted the importance of thorough handwashing, in order to prevent food poisoning. This comes after a new survey revealed less than a third (29%) of people always use soap or hand wash and water when they are at home. Additionally, around one fifth of respondents said they spend less time than the recommended 20 seconds washing their hands.

Source: FSS, 27 August 2020

The Scottish Government has published a review of the existing evidence on public attitudes and behaviour related to air pollution, in order to inform the draft of the new Cleaner Air for Scotland (CAFS) strategy.

The following are objectives of the literature review:

• Identify, review and synthesise up-to-date evidence on Scottish public attitudes, perceptions and behaviours towards air quality, to understand the key findings, robustness of the evidence base and any outstanding gaps in the evidence.
• Identify and review recent approaches to engaging the public on air quality, to understand effectiveness, limitations and applicability in different contexts.
• Make recommendations for a public engagement strategy for air quality as part of the planned public consultation on the new CAFS strategy.

Based on the range of studies identified in this review, there appears to be a strong awareness of, and engagement with, air quality and climate change issues in certain sectors of society in Scotland. There are however, significant barriers to engagement and behaviour change,  particularly amongst deprived communities.

Source: Scottish Government, 21 August 2020

The European Environment Agency (EEA) has published a briefing on the challenges and opportunities presented by biodegradable and compostable plastics.

In key messages from the briefing:

• Whether a plastic item will biodegrade depends upon two factors. Firstly, if it is designed for biodegradation or composting, and secondly, the conditions the item is exposed to after use and for how long. Both of these factors also affect how quickly an item will biodegrade.
• The conditions in home and open environment composters are very different compared to industrial composting plants, which affects the rate and extent of breakdown.
• Biodegradable, compostable and bio-based plastics need clearer labelling and repeated awareness-raising campaigns, targeting users to ensure their correct disposal and treatment.
• In a circular economy, all plastics should be recycled into new plastics in the first instance. Compostable plastics that can be treated with bio-waste offer environmental benefits for specific applications and situations, provided their use is aligned with the bio-waste treatment infrastructure.

Source: EEA, 27 August 2020