Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the finding of Min Cui, Bang Shen and others in their article ‘Animal diseases and human future’, published in Animal Diseases in April 2022, that 75 per cent of emerging human infectious diseases originate from animals.

UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is aware of the paper Animal diseases and human future by Min Cui, Bang Shen et al published in Animal Diseases, April 2022. The paper asserts that “approximately 60% of human infectious diseases are zoonotic, and 75% of emerging human infectious diseases originate from animals”. While there is not one internationally agreed figure for the percentages of diseases, emerging or established, that are zoonotic, these figures are broadly in line with that of global public health partners such as World Organisation for Animal Health.