Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much Official Development Assistance (ODA) is being allocated to reduce the (a) spread and (b) effect of covid-19 in developing countries; and what ODA is being spent on with regard to that infection.

The UK is at the forefront of the global response to COVID-19. We are using UK aid to its full effect to counter the health, humanitarian and economic risks of this global pandemic. We have committed up to £544 million of UK aid to combat COVID-19 and to reinforce the global effort to find a vaccine. We are keeping all further international funding under regular review.

The UK’s response includes:

- Support channelled through multilateral partners, including funding in response to the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Strategic Response Plan which will help prevent the spread of this pandemic by supporting developing countries to rapidly identify and care for patients with symptoms.

- Investment in research and development to support the development of a possible vaccine, as well as more immediate gains such as rapid diagnostics and therapeutics.

- Up to £150 million to the International Monetary Fund’s Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust, to help enable developing countries to direct greater resources to their healthcare efforts, helping prevent the virus from spreading around the world.