UK plans new specialist pandemic response health institute: Report

UK government is planning to replace Public Health England (PHE) with a new specialist pandemic response insititute based on a German model in wake of coronavirus outbreak, according to a media report on Sunday.

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock is expected to anunce a merger of pandemic response work of PHE, an executive ncy sponsored by government’s Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), and National Health Service (NHS) Test and Trace scheme to create National Institute for Health Protection, ‘Sunday Telegraph’ reported.

institute will be modelled on Germany's Robert Koch Institute, which played a central role in country's C-19 response, publishing daily situation reports that log new outbreaks, testing capacity and current burden on health system.

new UK unit on those lines is expected to be in place by September, ahe of a feared second wave of dely coronavirus which has claimed over 41,000 lives.

"We want to bring toger science and scale in one new body so we can do all we can to stop a second coronavirus spike this autumn,” a senior minister was quoted as saying.

" National Institute for Health Protection’s goal will be simple: to ensure that Britain is one of best equipped countries in world to fight pandemic," minister said.

institute’s new chief executive will report both to ministers at Department of Health and Social Care and to Professor Chris Whitty, England's Chief Medical Officer, giving government direct control over its response to pandemics.

overhaul comes after repeated reports that ministers were t entirely happy with way PHE dealt with coronavirus crisis.

government recently h to opt a new way of counting daily deaths from COVID-19 after concerns were raised that method used by PHE officials overstated m.

In reference to ' Sunday Telegraph’ report on a new institute, a DHSC spokesperson said that PHE has played an “integral role” in UK’s national response to an unprecedented global pandemic.

"We have always been clear that we must learn right lessons from this crisis to ensure that we are in strongest possible position, both as we continue to deal with COVID-19 and to respond to any future public health threat," spokesperson said.

According to Department of Health and Social Care, number of confirmed UK cases has hit 317,379, while total number of deaths is 41,361, Telegraph reported.