Covid-19 Update

Robert Courts Excerpts

Monday 29th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Clearly, the measures that we have in place are there to bring the number of cases right down. We have been able to do that over the past few weeks, since the middle of April, when we saw the peak. That has been happening across the country. Where we see local outbreaks and that trend going into reverse, we can take action, whether that is at a highly localised level around a single cluster or, as demonstrated tonight, with an outbreak such as the one in Leicester.

[Robert Courts (Witney) (Con)]

I welcome the decisive action taken today and the statement from the Secretary of State. There will of course be some nervousness in the country at large, so will he reassure people that lessons are being learned in real time and passed on to other local areas as they happen, and also that if it is necessary for him to go further to control this virus, that is what he will do?

[Matt Hancock]

Yes, I can absolutely confirm the point about the lessons being learned and then promulgated in other places around the country, not least because we want to empower local councils to be able to look out for a flare-up themselves and then to escalate that straightforwardly through the process I outlined in my statement. We will shortly be publishing more details on exactly how that process works. I absolutely agree with him and will commit to this House that if further action is needed, whether in Leicester or around the country, we are not enthusiastic about taking that action, but we absolutely will if it is necessary.