Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the covid-19 outbreak, whether people who are shielding will have to continue to do so after June 2020.

On 1 June the shielding guidance was updated to advise that those shielding may wish to consider spending time outdoors once a day while following social distancing guidelines.

The Government continues to review the emerging evidence and we will continue to listen to medical advisers on the level of clinical risk the virus presents to different groups of people at different points in time.

At each review point for the social distancing measures, we will review the risks for the clinically extremely vulnerable and assess whether the shielding period needs to be extended or whether it is possible for the shielding guidance to be eased further.

The next review will take place the week commencing 15 June. As part of this, we will consider the next steps for shielding beyond 30 June. We will write to all individuals on the shielded patient list with information about next steps on shielding advice and the support that will be available to them after this review point.