Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of (a) transmission pathways, (b) transmission locations and (c) modes of transmission for hospital acquired infections of covid-19.

The United Kingdom Government has drawn on wide-ranging scientific evidence and international assessment of the transmission of hospital acquired infections of COVID-19. This includes the World Health Organization’s scientific briefing ‘Transmission of SARS-CoV-2: implications for infection prevention precautions’, which identifies the dominant modes of transmission as airborne particles, contaminated surfaces and contact with others.

The National Infection Prevention and Control Manual is underpinned by a range of literature reviews, including assessments of high risk transmission pathways such as aerosol generating procedures, medical procedures that increase risk of transmission from patient to healthcare worker, staff to patient contact, and environmental contamination. These reviews can be found at the following link:

http://www.nipcm.scot.nhs.uk/resources/literature-reviews/