Coronavirus

Bell Ribeiro-Addy Excerpts

Wednesday 11th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Yes, we are increasing the support available at all ports, including airports and seaports such as Dover, and making sure that better information is available, including in multiple languages, to those who are arriving. Specifically and importantly, no matter who is here, we want to make sure that they know that if they are ill they should call 111, because this virus travels from human to human, not from people of one nationality to another. It does not see that distinction.

[Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Streatham) (Lab)]

Does the Secretary of State accept that keeping Parliament functioning as normal, with the public visiting, is simply irresponsible? As others are encouraged to cancel large meetings, events and unnecessary travel, we instigate large meetings, host events and receptions, and travel from all across the country—vectors, I heard an hon. Member call us last week. Festivals, concerts and football games have been postponed, but it is business as usual here. We are even holding our surgeries. As we continue to meet hundreds of people weekly, I am concerned that we are potentially spreading the virus. My biomedical training tells me that a number of Members in this House probably already have the virus. I am genuinely concerned about older Members, older constituents and those with underlying health conditions. Will he implement testing for all Members and staff of this House, not for reasons of special treatment but because of all the people we meet and have met in the past few weeks? Will he agree to having electronic voting or automatic pairing for any Member who may wish to self-isolate?

[Matt Hancock]

As I said in my statement, I am delighted that Parliament is staying open. There are, of course, considerations around procedures and how the House operates. It is rightly a matter for the Leader, Mr Speaker, the House of Commons Commission and every single Member to express their view, and the hon. Lady rightly puts her view firmly on the record. As long as the public health advice is taken into account, and it is based on that advice, then, as far as I am concerned, I am sure the decisions will be got right, led by you, Mr Speaker.

The one point I will respond to is that calling for testing for everyone is not going to help, because the test is not reliable for people who are not symptomatic. That is why testing at the airport, for instance, which several people have called for, is not effective. Some of the countries that started it, stopped it. Temperature testing leads to a load of false positives, because you might be ill with something else, and that complicates the system—or it leads to lots of false negatives, with the test returning a negative even though somebody is ill, because they do not yet have enough virus in their system to be symptomatic and for the test to pick it up. Testing people who do not have symptoms is not reliable and is counterproductive, so we will not be doing it.