Covid-19: R Rate and Lockdown Measures Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
William Wragg
Main Page: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)Department Debates - View all William Wragg's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(4 years, 5 months ago)
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Matt Hancock
I will talk to the Chancellor about that. It is obviously a question for a Department other than mine.
Mr William Wragg (Hazel Grove) (Con)
It is essential that the spread of covid-19 is understood in different settings, such as hospitals and care homes, so will my right hon. Friend confirm that the R rate can be unduly distorted at a regional level by these figures and that local lockdown measures should be used very carefully?
Matt Hancock
In the first instance, where we have taken local action, it can often be in a care home or in a hospital. That would be the action that is needed, and it has been successful, in many cases, in ensuring that an outbreak where we see a rise in the number of new cases does not then transmit into the community. So in the first instance, local action is very local: it is in a single hospital or in a care home. I think understanding that as the starting point for local action is important in thinking about how we take this forward.