Covid-19 Response

Joanna Cherry Excerpts

Monday 18th May 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

And some! The military have been unbelievably helpful in this crisis, right across the extraordinary things that my teams and the whole NHS have had to do in terms of logistics and delivery on the ground—literally boots on the ground. The military, just like the private sector that we were discussing earlier, have made the testing capability possible. They have supported care homes and they have done an amazing thing. They have really risen to the challenge.

[Joanna Cherry (Edinburgh South West) (SNP) [V]]

Most countries have imposed some form of public health measures on international travellers in order to limit imported cases of the virus. The United Kingdom has been out of step on that since the middle of March, and today we heard that details of a quarantine scheme will not be published until next month. As Health Secretary, will he publish the detailed scientific advice on which the United Kingdom’s approach has been based in this matter since the middle of March?

[Matt Hancock]

We are working on a four nations approach, and trying to make sure that the approach that we have to international travel is aligned across all four nations, including with the Assembly Government in Edinburgh. We have, of course, based those decisions on scientific advice, and we will make sure that, as and when that advice is updated as we move through this pandemic, so the decisions continue to be based on that advice.