The Health Protection (Notification) (Amendment) Regulations 2025

Made: 5th March 2025

Laid before Parliament: 7th March 2025

Coming into force: 6th April 2025

The Secretary of State makes these Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 45C(1), (2) and (3)(a), 45F(2)(a) and (b), and 45P(2) of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984[^f00001].

In accordance with section 45Q(3) of that Act, the Secretary of State is of the opinion that these Regulations do not contain any provision made by virtue of section 45C(3)(c) of the Act which imposes or enables the imposition of a special restriction or requirement or any other restriction or requirement which has or would have a significant effect on a person’s rights.

Citation, commencement, extent and application

1

• (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Health Protection (Notification) (Amendment) Regulations 2025.

• (2) These Regulations come into force on 6th April 2025.

• (3) These Regulations extend to England and Wales and apply in relation to England only.

Amendment to the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010

2

The Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010[^f00002] are amended in accordance with regulations 3 to 5.

Amendment of regulation 4

3

In regulation 4 (duty on the operators of diagnostic laboratories to notify the United Kingdom Health Security Agency of causative agents found in human samples and of SARS-CoV-2 or influenza virus tests processed)—

• (a) in the heading, after “SARS-CoV-2” insert “, respiratory syncytial virus”;

• (b) in paragraph (1A)(b), after “of” insert “respiratory syncytial virus or”;

• (c) in paragraph (2)(ba), after “SARS-CoV-2” insert “, respiratory syncytial virus”.

Amendment of Schedule 1

4

In Schedule 1 (Notifiable Diseases), at the appropriate alphabetical place insert—

• Acute flaccid paralysis or acute flaccid myelitis (AFP or AFM)

• Chickenpox (varicella)

• Congenital syphilis

• Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)

• Disseminated gonococcal infection (DGI)

• Influenza of zoonotic origin

• Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS)

• Neonatal herpes

Amendment of Schedule 2

5

In Schedule 2 (Causative Agents), at the appropriate alphabetical place insert—

• Candidozyma auris

• Echinococcus spp

• Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)

• Non-human influenza A subtypes

• Norovirus

• Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)

• Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV)

• Toxoplasma (congenital toxoplasmosis)

• Trichinella spp

• Yersinia spp

Signed

Signed by the authority of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Ashley Dalton — Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State — Department of Health and Social Care — 5th March 2025

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

Explanatory Note

These Regulations amend the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010 (“the Principal Regulations”).

Regulation 3 amends regulation 4 of the Principal Regulations to require diagnostic laboratories to notify the United Kingdom Health Security Agency of the results of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) tests which they process, including where the test result is indeterminate, negative or void.

Regulation 4 adds acute flaccid paralysis or acute flaccid myelitis (AFP or AFM), chickenpox (varicella), congenital syphilis, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), disseminated gonococcal infection (DGI), influenza of zoonotic origin, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS) and neonatal herpes to the list of notifiable diseases in Schedule 1 to the Principal Regulations.

Regulation 5 adds candidozyma auris, echinococcus spp, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), non-human influenza A subtypes, norovirus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), toxoplasma (congenital toxoplasmosis), trichinella spp and yersinia spp to the list of causative agents in Schedule 2 to the Principal Regulations.

A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector is available from the Department of Health and Social Care, 39 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0EU, which is available alongside this instrument on the legislation.gov.uk website.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 1984 c. 22; sections 45C, 45F, 45P and 45Q were inserted by section 129 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (c. 14).

[^f00002]: S.I. 2010/659, as amended by S.I. 2020/237, 674 and 1175, S.I. 2021/974 and S.I. 2022/616; there are amendments made by other instruments that are not relevant to these Regulations.