Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it is the Government’s objective to establish herd immunity against covid-19; and what level of infection is required for that immunity to be established.

Herd immunity is not part of the Government action plan but is a natural by-product of an epidemic.

Our aims are to save lives, protect the most vulnerable, and relieve pressure on the National Health Service. We have now moved out of the contain phase and into delay, and we have experts working round the clock.

Every measure that we have or will introduce will be based on the best scientific evidence.

We are still learning about the properties of the new coronavirus so we cannot yet say with accuracy at what level of infection herd immunity might be realised.