Covid: Fifth Anniversary

Debate between Lloyd Hatton and John McDonnell

Thursday 12th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) (Ind)]

I will follow on from my hon. Friends the Members for Edinburgh South West (Dr Arthur) and for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Johanna Baxter). I have been meeting a group of clinicians who approached me, led by Dr Rae Duncan, a consultant cardiologist and long-covid physician and researcher at Newcastle hospital. She has provided me with a detailed briefing note; the two-minute limit will not allow me to do any justice to it, so I will circulate it to hon. Members, but its message is very straightforward. The team want to get across the message that covid is not over. It is not seasonal, and it is not just a cold. It is a long-term, substantial and chronic burden.

[Lloyd Hatton]

I will be brief. This is Diabetes Week, and we are rightly looking at the impact that diabetes has on children. Does the right hon. Member agree that a similar approach must be taken for long covid? We must look at the unique impact it has on children and young people, so that we can better understand it.