Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of maintaining the current level of covid-19 restrictions for levels of covid-19 (a) infection, (b) hospitalisation and (c) mortality.

On 21 February 2022, the Government published its Living with COVID-19 strategy.

Given the success of the response to the pandemic, the Government has assessed that England is now in a position to move beyond the Plan A approach outlined in the Autumn and Winter Plan and take the next steps in living with the virus. Though case numbers are high, infections are falling as indicated by both Office for National Statistics and reported case data. Evidence also indicates that the link between COVID-19 infections and progression to severe disease and admissions to hospital is substantially weaker than in earlier phases of the pandemic. Living with and managing the virus will mean maintaining the population's wall of protection and communicating safer behaviours that the public can follow to manage risk. The Government is retaining free universal testing for the general public until 31 March and people will continue to be advised that there are safer behaviours they can adopt to reduce the risk of infection.

It may take several years before the threat of new dangerous variants subsides and the virus becomes more predictable. The Government’s aim is to manage and respond to these risks through more routine public health interventions and by building health resilience to cope with pressure points such as seasonal pressure on the National Health Service during winter. The Government will maintain adequate contingency plans given the ongoing risks and uncertainty faced.

The Government will retain surveillance to monitor the virus enabling the Government to make informed decisions and respond accordingly. The Government will prepare and maintain the capabilities to ramp up testing in the case of a new variant.