The Coronavirus Act 2020
The Act allows the 4 UK governments to switch on and off new powers based on the advice of their Chief Medical Officers. The measures in the Coronavirus Act are temporary, proportionate to the threat faced, and will only be used when strictly necessary.
The Act does not create duties relevant to management of health, safety and environmental matters but triggers powers of health officials, police constables and immigration officers to detain potentially infectious people, and to request information about an infectious person’s recent contacts. These powers may be of interest to organisations and are summarised here.
