Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the basis was for the decision to screen incoming passengers on day 2 after arrival for the omicron variant.

Our objective is to slow ingress of Omicron cases through our measures at the border. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test required on or before day two test has a minimum standard of reporting of no more than 48 hours. Current estimates suggest that the majority of PCR travel test laboratories are able to test for S-gene target failure, which can be used as a proxy for identifying Omicron. In many cases we will have an indication whether a case is the Omicron variant at the same time the laboratory reports a positive PCR test result, allowing us to notify contacts that they need to self-isolate as soon as possible.