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Everyone over 60 in England should now follow the same lockdown rules as the “clinically vulnerable”, the government has said.
The government has extended the “be especially careful” guide that previously applied to everyone over the age of 70.
Boris Johnson made a brief reference to the rule without further explanation in his press conference Saturday.
The official guide was then wrong on the finer details of the policy for 24 hours before it was discreetly corrected last night.
The change brings 5.9 million people between the ages of 60 and 69 to a slightly stricter lockdown guide than the rest of the population.
Those over 60 and the ‘clinically vulnerable’ are asked to “take special care to follow the rules and minimize their contacts with others.”
They should also “continue to wash their hands carefully and more frequently than usual” and “maintain a thorough cleaning of frequently touched areas in their home and / or workspace.”
This group should not be confused with the ‘clinically extremely vulnerable ‘, which is the 2.2 million people who were protected in March. Those people were contacted individually and directly in March, although now they are not asked to protect themselves.
Instead, the “clinically vulnerable” are designed to be a “moderate risk” group of people, with a level of risk between the “high risk” protectors and the general public.
The clinically vulnerable group includes everyone over the age of 70 and anyone under the age of 70 with one of a variety of underlying health conditions.
These include asthma, COPD, emphysema, bronchitis, diabetes, Parkinson’s, MND, MS, cerebral palsy, or a BMI greater than 40.
Pregnant women and those with chronic heart, kidney, or liver disease are also included.
The “clinically vulnerable” group has not been officially expanded to include everyone over 60 years of age.
However, those over 60 are now asked to follow the same rules as the ‘clinically vulnerable’, even if they are not in the group.
(Image: PA)
The prime minister told the nation: “If you are clinically vulnerable or over 60, you must take extra care to follow the rules and minimize your contacts with others.”
The guidance applies to people in England’s new lockdown, which will begin for at least four weeks starting this Thursday.
Explaining the policy today, the prime minister’s spokesman added: “Those over 60 should be especially careful because there is evidence that they could be at higher risk of becoming seriously ill.
“The scientific advice is that people over the age of 60 are at a higher risk of getting more ill from coronavirus, so they should take extra precautions.”
However, to add to the confusion, the official government guidance initially went further and said that those over 60 were actually part of the “clinically vulnerable” group, rather than simply following the same rules as that group.
It said: “Clinically vulnerable people are those who are 60 or older (regardless of their medical conditions).”
After several inquiries from the Mirror, the page was corrected last night to make clear that while not all those over 60 are clinically vulnerable, they are still asked to follow the same rules as the vulnerable.
The new guide says: “If you are clinically vulnerable or over 60, you must take extra care to follow the rules and minimize your contacts with others.”
The 7.22pm update was labeled a “minor guideline update” with no formal record of what had changed.
Age UK welcomed the change to ask those over 60 to follow the same rules as the clinically vulnerable.
But director Caroline Abrahams raised questions about what support they might get.
Unlike the “clinically extremely vulnerable”, the “clinically vulnerable” and those over 60 are not advised to stay away from work.
There is also no special financial support for them to stay away from work if they wish.
Ms Abrahams said: “The science is pretty clear that people start to be more vulnerable to serious illness from COVID-19 around the age of 60, or even a little bit younger, so as far as we can see, this decision is clinically correct.
“However, it raises big questions about the support that is being offered.”
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