Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of malnutrition in developing countries on (a) immunity from covid-19 and (b) developing severe illness as a result of that disease.

Nutrition plays a critical role in the immune response to a range of infectious diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhoea, and measles. Though there isn't strong evidence for the impact of malnutrition on the immune response to COVID-19 in developing countries, the UK Government is maintaining close attention to emerging research on these links.

There is strong evidence that obesity increases the risk of severe disease and death from COVID-19, including in developing countries. The available evidence does not suggest that individuals with undernutrition in developing countries are at higher risk of severe illness as a result of COVID-19, but we are tracking the emerging evidence on this question closely.