Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of replacing the covid-19 hotel quarantine system with a PCR test to allow entry into the UK.

All international arrivals to England are already required to take a test within the 72 before arriving in England and present a negative test certificate to their carrier. Due to the increased risk of new variants entering the United Kingdom, introducing mandatory testing on days two and eight for all international arrivals and managed quarantine facilities for those arriving from high-risk countries safeguards public health, reduces transmission of the virus and protects the vaccine programme.