Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in the context of high covid-19 infection rates, what the evidential basis is for removing covid-19 public health measures from 19 January 2022.

The Government’s decision to remove COVID-19 public health measures from 19 January 2022, nothwithstanding the context of high COVID-19 infection rates and, sadly, continuing deaths from the virus, was supported by data from the Office for National Statistics indicating infection rates were falling in England; advice from scientific advisers that the Omicron wave had likely peaked nationally; National Health Service data showing that hospital admissions and patients in hospital had stabilised; and that numbers in intensive care and in ventilator beds had remained relatively low and had been falling since early January.

The Government has published the scientific advice on which these decisions have been taken which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/scientific-evidence-supporting-the-government-response-to-coronavirus-covid-19