Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the most common situations in which COVID-19 was transmitted in December 2020, and (2) why some areas of England experienced higher levels of transmission than others in that month.

The weekly national influenza and COVID-19 surveillance report summarises the information from the surveillance systems which are used to monitor COVID-19, influenza, and other seasonal respiratory viruses in England. The most common settings for which COVID-19 was transmitted in December 2020 were care homes, hospitals, educational settings, prisons, workplace settings, food outlet/restaurant and other settings.

The new variant of the COVID-19 virus along with the differing tier systems in operation at the time have been identified as contributors of higher levels of transmission in some areas.