This week in the House of Commons, Munira challenged the Government on the preparations they are making for a possible second wave of the coronavirus.
This follows a report by the Academy of Medical Sciences released this week, which stated the Government must prepare now in time for a winter Covid-19 peak. It warned that a second wave during the winter will be more challenging. This is because the health and care systems tend to face pressure from flu outbreaks during this time.
Munira asks Hancock what lessons have been learned
Speaking in the House of Commons, Munira said:
“Today Sir Patrick Vallance told the Science and Technology Committee:
“It is clear that the outcome has not been good in the UK; I think we can be absolutely clear about that.”
Although I am delighted that the Prime Minister committed to my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Sir Edward Davey) yesterday that we will have an independent inquiry, we need to learn lessons urgently now ahead of a second wave, not least following the warnings in the Academy of Medical Sciences report earlier this week that suggested that we need to rapidly improve test and trace capacity and our PPE resilience.
Will the Secretary of State tell the House what he is doing to make sure that we learn from our mistakes?”
Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, responded:
“We are learning all the way through about how best to respond to this virus. In fact, changing measures, such as the changes we have made in Leicester today, is a good example of learning from the progress of the virus and learning about how best to tackle it. That is just one of myriad ways in which we are learning and improving all the time.”