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 implications for his policies of the rising number of covid-19 cases in China; and if he will make a statement.

Our policy is set out in the “Living with COVID-19 Strategy”, published last February. That explained that we would be removing self-isolation and other requirements and standing down much of our COVID-19 response, including testing and tracing infrastructure. However, we recognise that the pandemic is not over, and that there remains a risk of future COVID-19 surges and variants, both nationally and internationally.

We have therefore maintained the capacity for contingency responses to emerging COVID-19 threats, for example by extending eligibility for testing. As a result, we have been able to respond quickly to the situation in China, using existing contingency plans and capacity, and do so in line with existing policies.

The UK Health Security Agency began non-mandatory polymerase chain reaction testing with genomic sequencing at Heathrow, to detect new variants among passengers arriving on direct flights from China and passengers arriving from China to England now need to show a negative COVID-19 pre-departure test taken no more than two days prior to departure.

The best defence against COVID-19 remains vaccination and the Government continues to encourage those eligible to receive their boosters