Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, in view of the delay between the transmission of COVID-19 and the appearance of symptoms, what estimate they have made of the minimum response time between the occurrence and detection of any secondary outbreak of COVID-19.

The incubation period for COVID-19 is one–14 days (the median incubation period is five days). As set out by the First Secretary of State (Rt. Hon. Dominic Raab MP) on 16 April, there are five tests which underpin Government decisions on adjusting measures to control the virus. These include confidence that changes will not lead to a second peak of infections. As the Government adjusts the lockdown measures, it will closely monitor key indicators, including the rate of infection and local outbreaks, and will react accordingly.