Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the request made by the Director of Public Health for Birmingham City Council for an investigation into a possible link to the Black Lives Matter protests in Birmingham with an increase in COVID-19 cases in that city; and what steps they are taking, if any, to support that investigation.

A specific analysis to investigate the relationship between the demonstrations and the subsequent number of COVID-19 cases would be difficult, since there is no requirement for individuals to report attendance at a demonstration or protest and, therefore, the necessary data would not be available.

Following a request by the Director of Public Health for Birmingham to investigate a spike in COVID-19 cases between the 14-16 June and whether this could be related to the Black Lives Matter protests in Birmingham on 4 June, analysis of pillar 1 and pillar 2 test counts in Birmingham by ethnicity throughout June 2020 is being undertaken. The number of confirmed cases in Birmingham continued to decline overall during this period.