LETTERS BMJ: first published as 10.1136/bmj.n283 on 29 January 2021. Downloaded from Chrisp Street Health Centre, London E14 6PG, UK OPEN LETTER
[email protected] Cite this as: BMJ 2021;372:n283 Open letter to Chris Whitty and Susan Hopkins: change covid-19 case http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n283 Published: 29 January 2021 definition in line with WHO to save lives Alex Sohal general practitioner I hope this letter sharing 140 (and counting) general infectious.8 Thus test more of those with symptoms,9 practitioners’ clinical experiences of patients with identify more infectious cases, and reduce spread, covid-19 will encourage you to adopt our proposal—to implementing SAGE advice10 and saving lives. This change the covid case definition and testing criteria will help to get—and keep—us out of this indefinite in step with the World Health Organization, thus lockdown, as covid-19 becomes increasingly endemic decreasing the spread of covid-19. globally. Ignoring this will be at our peril. As GPs, we regularly review patients with mild AS is also health equity lead for Tower Hamlets and honorary clinical senior symptoms—for example, a runny or blocked nose, lecturer in primary care, Queen Mary University of London. sore throat, hoarseness, myalgia, fatigue, and headache—who subsequently turn out to be covid-19 Competing interests: None declared. positive. These symptoms are often inadvertently Full response at: https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4851/rr-4. picked up while dealing with patients’ other more pressing health issues. These patients have frequently 1 WHO.