COVID-19 Coronavirus: IQPC’s position

Following the World Health Organization’s declaration that this is a public health emergency of international concern, the UK Chief Medical Officers have raised the risk to the UK from low to moderate. We are constantly monitoring the situation and will follow government advice and guidelines in the countries where our events are taking place.

Global news coverage regarding the COVID-19 coronavirus understandably means the virus is a topic of concern for people and specifically for our event attendees, wherever in the world they are located. We hope that the following information will be useful to you and will reassure you that we are taking all sensible precautions. We are keeping a close eye on developments and will react accordingly.

Based on the current advice from WHO and UK/EU government advice, all IQPC conferences and meetings will be going ahead as scheduled.

The health and wellbeing of our clients and staff is of paramount importance to us and we would ask you to please take note of the following:

Stay indoors and avoid contact with other people immediately if you’ve travelled to the UK from:

• Hubei province in China in the last 14 days, even if you do not have symptoms
• Iran, lockdown areas in northern Italy, or special care zones in South Korea since 19 February, even if you do not have symptoms
• Other parts of mainland China or South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan or Thailand in the last 14 days and have a cough, high temperature or shortness of breath (even if your symptoms are mild)
• Other parts of Northern Italy (anywhere north of Pisa, Florence and Rimini), Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar or Vietnam since 19 February and have a cough, high temperature or shortness of breath (even if your symptoms are mild)

If any of the above applies to you, use the 111 Online Coronavirus Service to find out what to do next. Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.

We will be monitoring our attendee list to ascertain from where people are travelling, and will be proactively calling anyone located in high-risk areas to assess whether they are fit to attend.

At our events:

• Please be aware that people may not wish to shake hands at events; this should not be deemed to be impolite
• Hand sanitiser will be at the Registration Desk at all our events
• Shared equipment: we will ensure that all shared equipment such as microphones, laptops, clickers, etc. are disinfected between use
• Please take standard and sensible precautions: Always use tissues & dispose of them immediately Wash your hands regularly and use sanitiser

If you feel unwell and believe you may be at risk whilst in the UK, you should self-isolate and call NHS 111 Please do not hesitate to contact us directly if you have further queries on this matter: enquire@iqpc.co.uk / +44 (0)20 7368 9300