Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the covid-19 situation in Sri Lanka.

The UK Government is concerned about the COVID-19 situation in Sri Lanka, and is in regular contact with the Sri Lankan authorities and representatives of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Sri Lanka. Daily case numbers remain high, a number of variants have been detected, and some travel restrictions are in place. Sri Lanka's vaccination programme is underway, including in areas beyond Colombo and the Western Province. The Minister of State for South Asia, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, discussed the situation with the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Dinesh Gunawardena, on 17 June.

The UK Prime Minister announced on 11 June that the UK will donate 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines within the next year, with 30 million of those donated by the end of 2021. 80% of the vaccines donated will go to COVAX, the multilateral mechanism set up to support international co-operation on vaccines. So far, COVAX has helped deliver over 81 million doses to 129 countries and territories, including Sri Lanka.