Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of replacing covid-19 PCR tests with lateral flow tests for people arriving from amber list countries.

Testing remains a vital part of our borders regime to protect public health and prevent the importation of variants of concern. As only PCR tests can be used to identify variants of concern, they are required for tests on arrival in the UK. However, lateral flow tests can be used for pre-departure testing if they meet minimum performance standards.

The government keeps all measures under the review and the next formal review will take place by 1 October.