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 impact of international travel from China on trends in the level of covid-19 in the UK.

We are monitoring the situation in China carefully following the increase in cases and the easing of entry requirements to China on 8 January. Ministers have received regular updates from the UK Health Security Agency on the potential impact of this on the United Kingdom.

There remains a concern that limited data being provided by China means a new variant of COVID-19 may emerge and begin circulating undetected. The Government has therefore taken action, requiring pre-departure testing for arrivals from China and introducing arrivals testing to enable sequencing of COVID-19 positive tests for a proportion of passengers on direct flights from China to Heathrow Airport. The best defence against COVID-19 remains vaccination, and the Government continues to encourage those eligible to get their boosters.