Coronavirus guidance includes people taking immunosuppression therapies

The government has released further guidance relating to COVID-19 and has announced it will be sending letters out to 1.5 million people in England deemed most vulnerable due to health conditions.

This is known as ‘shielding’ and people who fall into this category will need to self-isolate for at least 12 weeks from today.

It’s possible some people with multiple sclerosis (MS) will fall into this category if they are taking disease-modifying therapies, as included in the category is ‘People on immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase risk of infection.’

The government say the following people are most at risk from COVID-19 and must follow the measures –

• Solid organ transplant recipients
• People with specific cancers
  • people with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy or radical radiotherapy for lung cancer
  • people with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are
  • at any stage of treatment
  • people having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer
  • people having other targeted cancer treatments which can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors
  • people who have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months, or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs
• People with severe respiratory conditions including all cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and severe COPD.
• People with rare diseases and inborn errors of metabolism that significantly increase the risk of infections (such as SCID, homozygous sickle cell).
• People on immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase the risk of infection.
  Women who are pregnant with significant heart disease, congenital or acquired.

The NHS in England is directly contacting people with these conditions to provide further advice.

If you think you fall into one of the categories of extremely vulnerable people listed above and you have not received a letter by Sunday 29 March 2020 or been contacted by your GP, you should discuss your concerns with your GP or hospital clinician.

Visits from people who provide essential support should continue, but carers and care workers must stay away if they have any of the symptoms of coronavirus. Here is government guidance on home care provision. All people coming to your home should wash their hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds on arrival to your house and often whilst they are there.