Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the spread of the (a) B.1.351 and (b) 501Y.V2 variants of covid-19 across (i) southern Africa and (ii) the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa.

The emergence of new genetic variants of concern highlight the critical importance of a coordinated global response to COVID-19. We are aware that B.1.351 / 501Y.V2 variant has been identified in 31 countries, including many countries across southern Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. Variant B.1.351 may spread more easily than previous variants, making it harder to control. Investigations are ongoing into the potential of variant B.1.351 for re-infection and vaccine or therapeutics efficacy. Limited genetic sequencing capacity in many countries in Africa limits our ability to fully understand the epidemiology and changes in the virus within the region.

The UK will offer its world leading expertise in genomics to identify new variants of coronavirus to countries who do not have the resources to do so. Countries will be offered UK capacity to analyse new strains of the virus through the launch of the New Variant Assessment Platform which will be led by Public Health England working with NHS Test and Trace and academic partners as well as the World Health Organization's SARS-CoV-2 Global Laboratory Working Group.