Coronavirus: Disease Control

(asked on 4th June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that measures to ease the lockdown restrictions due to the covid-19 outbreak do not increase the level of infection among at risk groups identified in the Public Health England report, Disparities in the risk and outcomes of COVID-19, published in June 2020.


Answered by
Jo Churchill Portrait
Jo Churchill
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 25th August 2020

The UK’s response to Covid-19 is are underpinned by scientific advice informed by a number of infectious disease models. Each of these is overseen by world-leading academic and public health institutions, who come together in the UK Government’s Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M). These experts have published a research paper that explores the multiple factors that place people more at risk of serious illness if they catch coronavirus.

We are using this research to develop a model that reflects a wider range of factors such as demographics, and lifestyle alongside long-term health conditions, to better understand cumulative risk of serious illness for individuals if they catch COVID-19.

At each review point, impacts on at-risk groups have been carefully considered, in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty requirement for public bodies to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between different people when carrying out their activities.

The Government will continue to review the measures, assessing them to ensure that they continue to be necessary and proportionate based on available scientific evidence, which includes up to date data.

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