Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in other countries on promoting global transparency in the reporting of covid-19 case numbers.

Accurately reporting COVID-19 case numbers is critical to mounting an effective response to the pandemic, but is often challenging given limitations in testing capacity, particularly in lower income countries. The UK has supported testing capacity in some vulnerable countries. We have also supported seroprevalence surveys in some countries, which go beyond reported numbers to estimate the true numbers infected, with results published to ensure transparency.

The UK has actively worked to secure the G20 "Call to Action on Corruption and COVID-19," which includes specific commitments around promoting transparency in responses to COVID-19, and we will continue to play a leadership role on the open data agenda internationally.