Latest updates on COVID-19 (coronavirus)

From 19 July 2021, measures put in place to limit the spread of COVID-19, including social distancing and wearing face masks in certain settings, will no longer be mandatory in England. Instead the Government in England has set out an expectation and recommendation that people should wear face coverings in crowded areas, as the number of cases is high and rising. 

We have issued a joint letter with the UK Chief Pharmaceutical Officers and the PSNI thanking pharmacy colleagues for their ongoing work throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have signed a joint letter with the UK Chief Pharmaceutical Officers and the PSNI, which thanks everyone working in pharmacy for their remarkable work to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the lives of our fellow citizens and their tireless efforts to support patients. 

We have updated our Q&A about supplying different types of COVID-19 tests from pharmacies in Great Britain.

In March, we announced that pharmacy professionals who were due to renew their registration between 20 March and 31 August 2020 would not have to submit revalidation records, because of the challenges and pressures on pharmacy professionals as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have responded to a letter from the PDA which sets out concerns that community pharmacy employers may be failing to report instances of exposure to Covid-19 in the workplace to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Our Chief Executive and Registrar Duncan Rudkin has written to pharmacy owners and superintendent pharmacists via email to highlight our position concerning the provision and sale of COVID-19 rapid antibody tests from community pharmacies.

Our Chief Executive and the Chief Executive Officer of the Competition and Markets Authority have written a joint letter to pharmacy owners and superintendent pharmacists in Great Britain.

Duncan Rudkin, Chief Executive of the GPhC, said: “We are carefully considering the findings of Public Health England’s report on disparities in the risk and outcomes of COVID-19 and the recommendations set out in the second part of that report on understanding the impact of COVID-19 on BAME groups.

Duncan Rudkin, Chief Executive of the GPhC, said: "New services to trace people who have been in close contact with people who have tested positive for coronavirus, and to ask them to self-isolate, are being introduced across Great Britain.

The Council of the GPhC has today agreed a policy for registering pharmacists on a provisional basis as part of the regulator’s response to the pandemic.

Duncan Rudkin, Chief Executive of the General Pharmaceutical Council, said: “We share the widespread view across pharmacy that there should be zero tolerance for abuse or violence against pharmacy staff.

Pharmacies across Great Britain are being asked to consider providing a safe space for victims of domestic abuse, as part of the UK SAYS NO MORE campaign run by Hestia, a national charity.

Three temporary emergency measures have been introduced by the UK Government into legislation (The Misuse of Drugs (Coronavirus) (Amendments Relating to the Supply of Controlled Drugs During a Pandemic etc.) Regulations 2020).

Our Chief Executive, Duncan Rudkin, has written to pharmacist pre-registration trainees and tutors to give them an update on our ongoing work on provisional registration and the registration assessments.

We have signed a joint statement with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society about NHS volunteers in England supporting pharmacy teams with key tasks including delivering medicines during the COVID-19 pandemic.