Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the increased (a) risk and (b) effect of a second wave of covid-19 on (a) people with blood cancer and (b) older people with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

Blood cancer patients have a higher chance of severe disease if they contract COVID-19 compared to other cancers, which is why they were placed on the extremely clinically vulnerable list and were advised to shield. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, some treatments were delayed when the risk of contracting COVID-19 was higher than the risk of delaying treatment.

The newly formed Cancer Recovery Taskforce brings together experts from across the cancer community and is overseeing the development of the cancer recovery plan, including taking into account any impact of a second wave of COVID-19.