Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on whether research has yet been completed on which influenza viruses are expected to be most prevalent during winter 2020-21.

Public Health England reports on international surveillance in the Weekly National Flu Reports which can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/weekly-national-flu-reports-2019-to-2020-season

Based on the World Health Organization bi-weekly update, influenza A accounts for the majority of influenza detections worldwide. Of the subtyped influenza A viruses, influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 accounts for the majority of detections worldwide. However, circulating strains change over the year and we cannot predict which strains will be most prevalent in the United Kingdom this winter.