The Intensive Care Society supports GENOMICC

We are all aware that coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was confirmed to have reached the United Kingdom on January 31, 2020 and it is likely that new cases will be seen in the UK as numbers are presently doubling worldwide every 5 days.

The outbreak of this infection had already been declared a public health emergency on January 30, 2020 by the World Health Organisation.

The Intensive Care Society has been delighted to support and fund Dr Kenneth Baillie over recent years as he set up GENOMICC – a study aimed at understanding the body’s variation in genetic response to different infections. 60 Intensive Care Units in the UK are now already recruiting to this study and patients with new coronavirus infection are eligible for this study.

The Intensive Care Society is a member of ISARIC – the International Severe Acute Respiratory Infection Consortium. Its dormant study – ISARIC clinical characterisation protocol is now open as a result of the new coronavirus infection and is already actively recruiting patients.

The Intensive Care Society fully supports Dr Baillie and the team at ISARIC who are now well placed to respond to the recent Medical Research Council £20m call for further research into 2019-nCoV.

The Intensive Care Society encourages all Intensive Care Units to participate in GENOMICC and the ISARIC study to enable clinicians to better understand the variation in patient susceptibility and response to infections.

We also advise you to follow the Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England updates, released daily at 2pm.