1/. On 28 January - two days before WHO declared #coronavirus to be a "public health emergency of intn’l concern" - members NERVTAG (New & Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group) which advises govt & includes SAGE members, had a teleconference. m.box.com/shared_item/ht… 
2/. Dr Jim McMenamin (Health Protection Scotland) asks whether the Dept of Health & Social Care (DHSC) "wanted to identify individuals who are potentially infectious or, because international travel will continue to occur, there was an alternative objective in mind?” #COVID19
3/ Prof @neil_ferguson asks DHSC if "the rational of the aim is to attempt to control the spread & limit it, in which case it would be logical to extend the definition to whole of China regardless of testing capability." If only for surveillance it's fine to keep it more limited.
4/. Chris Whitty & Jennie Harries say that "there would need to be a pragmatic balance between the sensitivity of the case definition & the capacity of the health system." Chris Whitty adds that “the purpose is to identify individuals so they don’t transmit the virus.” #COVID19
5/. “The committee contemplated the prospect of broadening the geographical area of the case definition [from just Wuhan] to Hubei province or the whole of mainland China. NEVTAG agreed that expanding the case definition...was not feasible.” #COVID19 #coronavirus #COVIDー19
6/. These SAGE minutes👇show two weeks before it was unveiled as govt policy, the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling hadn’t modelled #herdimmunity.
The NEVTAG minutes👆show the “pragmatic balance” that was involved in their decision-making.
The NEVTAG minutes👆show the “pragmatic balance” that was involved in their decision-making.
