Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the testing of the crew of HMS Queen Elizabeth for covid-19, if he will provide details of the other groups of military personnel that have been tested for that disease.

Testing has been incorporated into Defence's wider strategy of risk-reduction measures to minimise the potential risk to personnel deploying overseas.

Defence has continued to maintain its critical operational outputs throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, and carefully monitors the risk to all Defence personnel.

Figures for Armed Forces personnel who have been tested positive for COVID-19, or have been hospitalised, are included within the overall Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) figures. The Ministry of Defence does not routinely publish the number of tests administered to Defence personnel, nor the number of positive or negative cases of COVID-19.