The Government have announced their plan to tackle the Coronavirus outbreak and I was pleased to hear the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s statement in the House yesterday (Tuesday.) Coronavirus (or Covid-19) does represent a challenge for us whether in Bosworth, across the UK, or indeed across the World. The Government has a difficult task to instigate a plan that balances the need to keep the population safe, but also not overact; so I was pleased to hear from the Secretary of State for Health that the Government is working closely with the Chief Medical Officer, and the senior NHS Leadership in the UK to tackle this issue.
The Government's plan has 4 main phases to respond to the outbreak:
• Contain: detect early cases, follow up close contacts, and prevent the disease taking hold in this country for as long as is reasonably possible
• Delay: slow the spread in this country, if it does take hold, lowering the peak impact and pushing it away from the winter season
• Research: better understand the virus and the actions that will lessen its effect on the UK population; innovate responses including diagnostics, drugs and vaccines; use the evidence to inform the development of the most effective models of care
• Mitigate: provide the best care possible for people who become ill, support hospitals to maintain essential services and ensure ongoing support for people ill in the community to minimise the overall impact of the disease on society, public services and on the economy.
Government departments are coming together to ensure that the action plan announced yesterday is effective. I also know that the UK is a world leader in Research and Development for medicine and our scientists have a tremendously important part to play to develop a vaccine to tackle the virus, and the Government is actively supporting this field too.
This is a fast moving issue and the Secretary of State for Health was asked a range of questions in the house today and I felt that it was important to highlight the need for support for small business owners through this issue. I talked about the need for an emergency loan for small business owners and I was pleased to hear that the Government is actively considering this issue. I look forward to further announcements imminently. You can watch my exchange here.
To be kept updated with the latest developments about Covid-19, please visit the Gov.uk website. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-action-plan and https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/coronavirus-covid-19-uk-government-response. If you have particular concerns about this matter, please email me at luke.evans.mp@parliament.uk and I will do my best to respond.