Covid-19 Update

Debate between Catherine McKinnell and Matt Hancock

Thursday 17th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

My hon. Friend, who rightly raised this issue with me on Tuesday, knows that I will always be driven by the data in the local action that we take. Where we do take local action, I do so with a heavy heart. I was very pleased that we were able to take his constituency out of the local action in West Yorkshire. However, we have seen case rates go up, and we will be guided by that data. I look forward to talking to him and working with him on that basis.

[Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab)]

Despite the disappointing news that the Health Secretary has delivered, the people of the north-east are committed to doing everything they can to get this virus under control—but the Government need to meet them halfway. In Scotland and Wales, children under 11 are exempt from the restrictions. That enables families who do not have an army of nannies and formal childcare to get to work. I appreciate the concerns that he has outlined today, but none of them explains why the people of Scotland and Wales are trusted to make these decisions, yet people in England are disproportionately put in the difficult position of not being able to rely on family and friends.

[Matt Hancock]

I pay tribute to the hon. Lady, who, in what she has been saying this morning and overnight about the restrictions that we have unfortunately had to put in place in her local area, has been speaking for her constituents, and with very clear public health messages that it is so important that people heed. I will absolutely look at the point that she raised and make sure, working with her local councils, that we get the details right of exactly the measures that are put in place in her area and, indeed, across the country.

Covid-19 Response

Debate between Catherine McKinnell and Matt Hancock

Tuesday 2nd June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Yes, absolutely. I congratulate my hon. Friend not only on his new beard but on his support for Rother Valley. He is absolutely right that the domestic manufacture of PPE is one of the most important things we could be doing right now. We are pushing that incredibly hard, with the support of Lord Paul Deighton.

[Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab)]

I agree with the Secretary of State that retaining the public’s trust is absolutely crucial if we are to tackle the virus, but that trust needs to be earned and honoured. I want to put on record my constituents’ deep frustration at the Government’s response to Dominic Cummings breaking the rules. There are deeply felt fears among doctors, nurses and other frontline health professionals about coming out of lockdown too quickly and all the sacrifice that so many people have made going to waste. We know that some people are asymptomatic and could be spreading the virus unchecked, so how will test, track and trace work for those people if they are not being tested?

[Matt Hancock]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right to say that we must move cautiously and carefully. Those were not her exact words—I am putting them in her mouth—but she is nodding in agreement. We must not lose all the advantages and progress we have made. The number of people sadly dying from the disease is down to almost a tenth of what it was at the peak, but that is still far too high. Test and trace will be critical. The precise answer to the question she asks about testing is that if you are contacted by an NHS contact tracer and asked to self-isolate, you should do so. That period of two weeks of self-isolation is the time in which if you were going to get symptoms and pass on the disease, you would. Therefore, that is what breaks the chain. It is the isolation on instruction from the NHS that breaks the chain. That is the power of the NHS test and trace programme.

Covid-19 Response

Debate between Catherine McKinnell and Matt Hancock

Monday 18th May 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

The answer that I tried to give at the end of my answer—perhaps too long an answer—to my hon. Friend the Member for Ashfield (Lee Anderson) is that, yes, that is something on which I am working. It is not something that I am able to announce today, but I do recognise the concerns and the challenges that the social care sector faces.

[Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab) [V]]

The number of daily new cases of coronavirus remains above 3,000 and the daily death rate higher than that of other countries, including Italy and Spain. We were slow to go into lockdown, but we now seem to be in a rush to come out, with restrictions relaxed before the test, track and trace system is fully in place, which may well be putting those numbers back on the rise. Does the Secretary of State understand why the public are anxious about the relaxation and the plans to reopen schools given the lack of systems in place now to minimise the risk of adding to the already devastating death toll?

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Catherine McKinnell and Matt Hancock

Tuesday 5th May 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Yes. I want cancer treatments to resume as soon as is safely possible. In some cases, it is clinically not advised to resume treatment because there is a spread of the virus in the community—for instance, treatments that reduce immunity to very low levels. There are other areas—for instance, some surgery—where we are able to restart. This is a very important part of the restart of the NHS. The message I would give to my hon. Friend’s constituents is: if you are advised by your doctor to go to hospital, you should go to hospital, because they will have taken into account all the different risks and decided that that is the best advice to give. So if you are asked to go to hospital by your clinician, please do go.

[Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab) [V]]

The Government chief scientific adviser said that if we could keep deaths below 20,000, we would have done well in this epidemic, yet the death toll now stands at a devastating 32,313. It is not about whether we can use international comparisons; this is the Government’s own measure, so many are wondering how the Government can claim that their approach so far is a success. Is that not an insult to every family member who has lost a loved one, and does it not undermine public confidence that the Government are learning from their mistakes?

[Matt Hancock]

We are absolutely learning from everything that has happened, and constantly looking again, trying to make sure from the time we get up in the morning to the time we go to bed at night that we have the best possible response. That includes, for example, working across parties where cross-party work can help, as we have on the test, track and trace pilot on the Isle of Wight. That is the approach that we constantly take. Of course we look at all the information and the data, but in that spirit the hon. Lady should acknowledge, I think, that the approach is a success: the curve is flattened and is now coming down, and—critically—the NHS was at no point overwhelmed. That was one of our priority goals right at the start, and it has been achieved at every point so far in this crisis. Of course there are always things we can improve, but I think we should also, rightly, study the things that have gone well.