Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with the UN, the EU and authorities in affected countries on (a) the spread of the Zika virus and (b) strategies to prevent the spread of the virus.

The Chief Medical Officer, Chief Scientific Adviser and Public Health England (PHE) have had a number of discussions over recent weeks with a wider range of international authorities. The Secretary of State has been briefed about all such discussions.

PHE and the National Travel Health Network and Centre have been carefully monitoring the Zika virus outbreak in the Americas since it was first reported in Brazil during May 2015. PHE and the Department attended a European Union Health Security Committee teleconference and PHE has shared a recent European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) risk assessment on Zika virus with colleagues in England, the Devolved Administrations and Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. PHE has been in discussion with infectious disease authorities in Brazil with respect to understanding the epidemiological and clinical picture associated with Zika virus and microcephaly and other congenital malformations.

Through the International Health Regulations National Focal Point, PHE has shared information with the European Union, ECDC and other European Member States on the number of cases of Zika virus infection in returning travellers.