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( 2) 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

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

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 thelegislation.gov.ukwebsite.