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The number of people who are required to shield in England has been expanded.
Now, an extra 1.7 million people are being asked to stay at home and avoid leaving the house except in cases of emergencies. This is an additional requirement on top of the lockdown stay at home order.
The expansion has been implemented to account for more people who are at a higher risk of becoming severely unwell from catching Covid-19.
Before now, the shielding list purely took into account health factors, such as pre-diagnosed medical conditions.
Now, following analysis of deaths in the first wave of the pandemic by health advisers, the shielding has been expanded to include other things that may increase the risk of someone catching coronavirus according to recent studies.
This includes factors such as weight, BMI, ethnicity, economic deprivation (according to postcode), age, underlying health issues, and prescribed medications.
Those who are now being told to shield will have been sent letters by the NHS informing them.
In light of the recent changes, here’s everything you need to know.
Who is required to shield now?
According to the government website, there are now three reasons why someone may be required to shield, which means they have been defined as clinically extremely vulnerable.
This includes having one or more of the conditions listed on the government’s website, which includes specific cancers, Down’s syndrome, heart disease, and issues with the spleen.
However, the list has been expanded to include some people with multiple sclerosis and others who have been identified as being clinically extremely vulnerable according to the Covid-19 Population Risk Assessment, which was developed by the University of Oxford.
The 1.7m people who have been added to the shielding list will now be fast-tracked for vaccination against coronavirus.
What is the Covid-19 Population Risk Assessment and how has it identified people who are at risk?
The list has been created using a risk calculator, named QCovid®, which calculates an individual’s risk related to Covid-19 by combining a number of factors such as age, sex registered at birth, ethnicity, body mass index (BMI) and specific health conditions and treatments.
The government website explains: “We have used patient data held centrally to identify people who might be at high risk and generated risk assessment results for these people.
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