Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he was advised that the NHS would be overwhelmed if a national covid-19 lockdown was not implemented in November 2020.

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies noted on 29 October that in order to manage the overall epidemic, interventions should seek to prevent areas of low prevalence from becoming areas of high prevalence, as well as reducing prevalence where it is high. In the face of continued growth, the ‘R’ rate should be brought below 1. Failure to do so would have risked very significant pressures on the healthcare system.