Air Pollution: Coronavirus

(asked on 1st July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance his Department has provided to local authorities on the effect of air pollution on the spread of covid-19.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 6th July 2020

We have provided no specific guidance to local authorities on the effect of air pollution on the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

However, on 7 April, we asked the Air Quality Expert Group (AQEG) to issue a call for evidence addressing areas of current scientific uncertainty related to the potential interactions between COVID-19 and UK air pollution. The AQEG report assessing available evidence was published on the UK Air website on 1 July. The report concluded that there is currently very limited evidence to support the concept of transmission of viable live SARS-Cov-2 virus via ambient (outdoor) particulate matter.

We continue to work with our colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care, Public Health England and the wider research community to improve our understanding of this issue.

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