PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Coronavirus (4 February 2020)

We have launched a public information campaign, setting out how every member of the public can help to prevent the transmission of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom by taking simple steps to minimise the risk to themselves and their families: washing hands and using tissues when they sneeze, just as they would with flu.

We also have posters up at every international airport advising travellers on what to do should they develop symptoms, and we provide regularly updated guidance for the public at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-information-for-the-public

The Department works closely with Public Health England and NHS England in all aspects of our response. We have also been working across government and with our partners in the devolved administrations since the beginning of the outbreak. We have coordinated cross governmental Ministerial and officials’ meetings to ensure and formulate a coherent response. These include the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Department for Transport, Foreign Office and Home Office amongst many others.

We have collaborated with European Union partners on repatriation flights. 11 UK entitled persons were repatriated on a French flight and we have helped to bring a number of Spanish nationals out of Wuhan on the first of our two repatriation flights.

We are also in regular contact with colleagues in the EU through meetings such as the Global Health Security Initiative and the Early Warning and Response System (EWRS).

Public Health England ensure that someone with coronavirus does not put others at risk by treating them in isolation and carefully investigating who they had close contact with.

The Department has made £40 million available to fund Covid-19 related research and speed up the development of a vaccine. However, as the incident remains ongoing it is too early to state the total cost to the public purse and more broadly the number of staff and or equipment required to respond to the incident.