Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will (a) clarify the rationale and (b) make available the data that informed the decision for people returning from France regardless of vaccination status to quarantine for 10 days in the UK from 19 July 2021.

As of 19 July, GISAID data showed there have been to date 2,959 cases of the Beta variant in France or 5.2% of all cases, compared to 1,052 cases of the Beta variant in the United Kingdom or 0.2% of all cases, 44 cases or 0.5% of all cases in Greece and 621 cases or 1.4% of all cases in Spain since the start of the pandemic. As of 14 July, more sequences uploaded to the GISAID international database in the last three to four months were attributed to the Beta variant in France, than in Spain or Greece. The precautionary measure of the current quarantine rules and testing for travellers into the UK from France was meant to significantly reduce the risk of importing cases of the Beta variant, preventing community clusters or outbreaks.

From 8 August, arrivals from and those who have transited through France in the last ten days who have been fully vaccinated under the UK vaccination programme approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency do not need to quarantine. They are still expected to take a day two test.