Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to provide (a) vaccines, (b) oxygen, (c) ventilators and (d) other support to Sri Lanka in the context of the covid-19 outbreak in that country.

The UK Government is concerned about the rising number of COVID-19 infections in Sri Lanka, and is in regular contact with the Government of Sri Lanka and the World Health Organisation's (WHO) representatives in Sri Lanka. The UK has committed £548 million to the COVAX Advanced Market Commitment to support equitable access to vaccines across the world. The Prime Minister has confirmed that the UK will share the majority of any surplus vaccines with COVAX and this multilateral mechanism, set up to support international co-operation on vaccines, remains the best way to ensure global equitable access to vaccines. It is too early to determine if and when the UK will have any vaccine surplus to our domestic needs, but we are keeping the situation under continual review.

The UK has taken a leading role in the COVID-19 global health response, both in addressing the direct health impacts, and keeping essential services going. In addition to our average annual contribution of £120 million to assist the WHO, including in their role to provide technical guidance and operational support on maintaining essential health services, we recently announced a further £340 million (2020-24) in new core contributions. This is a significant uplift in support towards its vital work on public health.