Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of China about the role of ‘wet markets’ in the global spread of COVID-19.

The virus is believed to have originated in a seafood and live animal market in Wuhan, China in December 2019, but it has since spread widely through human to human transmission. China has now announced a proposal prohibiting the trade and consumption of wildlife. We have been in regular contact with the Chinese authorities since the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak, including most recently on 5 March when the Minister for Asia met the Chinese Ambassador.