A new Biothreats Radar capable of scanning biological risks that pose a threat to the public will be key to the UK’s fight and preparation for future pandemics, the Government has announced. It’s part of a new Biological Security Strategy to defend the UK from infectious disease outbreaks, antimicrobial resistance, and biological incidents and attacks.
The Radar will be led by the Government’s National Situation Centre and will bring together data from across government, existing independent advisory committees and wider expert groups who analyse biological risks and trends. It will centralise the data and actively monitor this information to provide decision makers with a comprehensive picture of known and developing biological threats.
This forms part of a new Biological Security Strategy published by the Government today to strengthen the UK’s defences against infectious diseases, biological attacks and antibiotic resistance.
The major new Strategy sets out clear actions on biosecurity, building upon the framework set out by the Government in 2018, and has been updated to reflect lessons learned during the Covid-19 pandemic. It outlines how the Government will tackle a wide range of threats head on - from bioterrorism to animal and plant diseases - by 2030.
Four pillars will underpin how the Strategy tackles biological threats:
- Understanding the biological risks we face today and could face in the future
- Preventing biological risks from emerging or from threatening the UK’s interests
- Detecting and reporting biological risks early when they do emerge
- Responding to biological risks that have reached the UK to lessen their impact.
Alongside the Biothreats Radar, the Strategy sets out a number of commitments, including:
- Developing a National Biosurveillance Network to detect and monitor emerging biological threats to the UK
- Establishing a new UK Biosecurity Leadership Council, bringing together academic and industry leaders to help establish the UK as a world leader in responsible innovation
- Developing new UK-based microbial forensics tools and capabilities to support efforts to attribute biological incidents and deter the proliferation and use of biological weapons
- Working with industry to further UK efforts to achieve the 100 Days Mission - reducing the impact of future pandemics by making vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics available within 100 days of a future outbreak
- Formalising the leadership structures that oversee our biological security - including a lead minister who will report annually to Parliament
- Establishing a Biological Security Task Force in the Cabinet Office to coordinate UK-wide efforts on biological security, including exercising our response to future threats.
The UK is already Europe’s leading biotechnology hub and these commitments will further bolster the UK’s strength in this area.
As set out in the recent Atlantic Declaration, the UK is also strengthening our bilateral collaboration with the United States on biological health and security, including through closer cooperation to tackle drug-resistant infections.
