Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he revised his estimation of the significance of ventilation in reducing the rate of covid-19 transmission over the course of the covid-19 outbreak.

In line with evidence from the World Health Organisation and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), Public Health England (PHE) has revised their estimation of the significance of ventilation in reducing the rate of COVID-19 transmission over the course of the pandemic. This is included as part of PHE’s Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) recommendations guidance.

The guidance is available at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/954690/Infection_Prevention_and_Control_Guidance_January_2021.pdf

No assessment has been made specifically of the effectiveness of improving ventilation in mitigating the risk of COVID-19 infection compared to hand washing, social distancing and surface sanitisation. The IPC guidance advises that, if indoors, to ensure rooms have plenty of fresh air by keeping windows and doors open. The guidance also advises using signs and posters to build awareness of good handwashing technique, the need to increase handwashing frequency and to avoid touching your face, and to cough or sneeze into a tissue which is disposed of safely - or into your arm if a tissue is not available.