Covid-19 Response

Stella Creasy Excerpts

Monday 18th May 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

It is not through the covid app, but we have a process for people inputting whether they think they have had the virus. As and when we manage to land an agreement on antibody testing the proposition my right hon. Friend makes is a very good one. After all, at the moment the science is not clear as to the level of immunity and the risk that we pose of transmitting to others if we have antibodies, as many of us who have had the virus hope that we have, but as the science becomes clearer, so we will also be able to be clearer with our guidance to people who have a degree of immunity on what they can do.

[Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op) [V]]

Two weeks ago, 1.8 million people in this country who are currently shielding were told that they would have to shield for an extra two weeks until 30 June. Can the Secretary of State confirm what protection there will be for them and their families, so that they do not face the threat of redundancy or sanction for not going to work or not going to school in order to follow that medical advice?

[Matt Hancock]

We have put in place extensive protections for people who are shielded, and those protections will of course continue to apply until 30 June. Shielding is not something that we do lightly, because we understand the very significant impact it has on those concerned and their families, but it is necessary in a pandemic like this.