Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Prime Minister's oral contribution of 18 November 2020, Official Report, column 323, if he will set out the evidence both ways on whether people who have tested positive within the last six months have protection from their T cells preventing reinfection for at least six months; and if he will place a copy of that evidence in the Library.

The early findings of a study by the Coronavirus Immunology Consortium and Public Health England (PHE), which is yet to be peer-reviewed, suggest that a strong cellular immune response is likely to be present in the majority of adults at six months after infection, which is likely to contribute to the low levels of re-infection seen to date.

The Government, including PHE, is working with academia to answer the outstanding questions on immunity. Further research is being carried out to establish the efficiency of any long-term immunity after infection, including the SIREN study which is monitoring healthcare workers for reinfection.