Coronavirus

Ben Everitt Excerpts
Wednesday 26th February 2020

(4 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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It is a very important question. We are getting as much information as we possibly can, through the Foreign Office, to those who are in Tenerife. As I announced in the statement, we will shortly be strengthening our domestic communications programme to ensure that people have all the information they need.

Ben Everitt Portrait Ben Everitt (Milton Keynes North) (Con)
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I was very pleased when, yesterday evening, the Health Minister took me aside and said how well the whole of Milton Keynes had reacted to hosting a quarantine centre, and he was right of course. The professionals in the NHS— clinical and managerial—were fantastic, as were the officers in the council. I think we should recognise that the whole health team—the Secretary of State and his Ministers, advisers and officials—and, indeed, parliamentarians on any Bench in this House, have reacted incredibly well to this situation. So can the Secretary of State reassure us that this is part of the UK being the best prepared—or among the very well prepared —in the world to deal with this kind of outbreak?

Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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My hon. Friend is right about Milton Keynes. The people of Milton Keynes have done exactly the right thing, and I would add to his list Milton Keynes University Hospital, which has done a brilliant job. More broadly, I would also add the media, who have in very large part responded in an incredibly responsible way to a very big story. We have detailed operational plans for dealing with this situation, including if it gets much worse, and those plans are worked on and updated in response to all the information we get, but part of the plan is about the behaviour of people and how people respond in this House and in the country. Thus far we have seen an exemplary response. I hope that continues.