Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of regional lockdowns where there is a high covid-19 infection rate.

We are currently considering a range of options for addressing future phases of the COVID-19, including the implementation of tailoring containment measures to the regional and local level. As recently announced, each local authority has been allocated funding to develop local outbreak control plans, working with local National Health Service, Public Health England and other stakeholders.

Any decisions on how to approach the mid-to long-term strategy to address the pandemic will be led by the science, build on the Government’s test and trace strategy, and be supported by the new Joint Biosecurity Centre.