Legislation – The Zoonoses Amendment (Coronavirus) (Scotland) Order 2021

This Order amends the Zoonoses Order 1989 (“the Zoonoses Order”), which makes provision for the control of organisms carried in animals which constitute a risk to human health.

Article 2(3) of the Order amends article 4 of the Zoonoses Order, which designates organisms for the purposes of section 29 of the Animal Health Act 1981 on the control of zoonoses. It designates severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) as an organism carried in animals which constitutes a risk to human health, and provides for provisions of that Act (and accordingly the Zoonoses Order) to apply in relation to the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in any kind of mammal (except man) as if the presence of SARS-CoV-2 were a disease to which that Act applied.

Article 2(4) amends article 8 of the Zoonoses Order, which concerns the reporting of the presence of designated organisms. It amends article 8 to require the reporting of the former presence as well as the presence of a designated organism. It also amends article 8 to require that a report must be made to a veterinary officer of the Scottish Minsters by the person in charge of a laboratory where the presence or former presence of SARS-CoV-2 in any kind of mammal (except man) is identified by a laboratory examination, or by the person carrying out the examination where the presence is identified by an examination carried out elsewhere than at a laboratory.

Article 2(5) amends schedule 2 of the Zoonoses Order to specify further particulars to be contained in a report required by article 8 of the Zoonoses Order.