To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to ensure that covid-19 tests provided for children returning to school have a 24-hour turnaround time.
Answered on
2 November 2020
As part of the Government's commitment to reopening schools, all schools in England have been provided with a small number of home testing kits to be offered in the exceptional circumstance that a school believes a symptomatic pupil or staff member will not get a test by another route.
Anyone experiencing symptoms can access a free test at a testing site or at home via the online booking portal or by calling 119. This includes all pupils, teachers and staff. The majority (about 70%) of those taking an in person test at mobile testing units, walk-throughs and drive-through testing sites received results the next day after the test was taken.
Staff and students should only request a test if they develop one or more of the main COVID-19 symptoms.