Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the World Health Organisation and his counterparts in Saudi Arabia on the risk of MERS virus spreading to (a) the UK and (b) other countries.

Public Health England (PHE) has identified three United Kingdom nationals who have contracted the MERS coronavirus (MERS-CoV). These cases occurred in 2013 and were all part of the same cluster. The primary case had travelled to the Middle East and the other two cases were contacts in the UK.

In the case of an unusual infectious disease incident or outbreak outside of the UK, discussions are held by UK Health Officials primarily from PHE, with officials in European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) to identify the risk of the infection spreading outside of the country of origin. PHE is in close liaison with WHO and ECDC to monitor international developments and re-evaluate risk assessments whenever there is significant new data to review. In the case of MERS-CoV, these have been on-going since the virus first appeared in 2012.

Risk assessments have been agreed between WHO regions as well as the Member States served by ECDC. These are published appropriately and all organisations agree that the risk of contracting MERS-CoV outside of the Middle East is very low. The risk of a foreigner contracting the virus whilst in the Middle East may be slightly higher than within the UK, but is still very low and does not warrant a change in the travel advice that is currently given.

Information is available to general practitioners and health professionals that describes the condition, how it is transmitted and caught, the signs and symptoms, and what to do should they suspect one of their patients may have MERS. Testing is available seven days a week through the PHE laboratory network. Hospital clinicians have been given guidance on the assessment of possible cases of MERS and infection control procedures to follow for suspected cases.

Information for UK nationals going to and from the Middle East is available through PHE's website and The National Travel Health Network and Centre provides health information for both health professionals and travellers. All travellers to the Middle East are advised to practice good general hygiene measures, such as regular hand washing before and after visiting farms, barns or market areas, especially where camels are present. They are also advised to avoid unnecessary contact with camels and avoid raw camel milk/camel products from the Middle East, particularly if they have chronic health conditions, as they may be at a higher risk of MERS-CoV.

All travellers are advised generally to avoid the consumption of any type of raw milk, raw milk products and any food that may be contaminated with animal secretions unless it has been peeled and cleaned and/or thoroughly cooked.

Travellers returning from the Middle East with severe respiratory symptoms should seek medical advice and mention their travel history so that appropriate measures and testing can be undertaken. People who are acutely ill with an infectious disease are advised not to travel.

PHE is also working with the airports to produce information for passengers on MERS-CoV and the practical steps they can take to minimise the risk of getting infected. This will be displayed at arrivals and departures at the airports.