Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has given to hospitals on testing people who have received a positive covid-19 test result within 90 days.

Public Health England (PHE) has published guidance on investigation and management of suspected COVID-19 infections that states if people present with new symptoms within 90 days of full recovery of a previous COVID-19 episode, they should be suspected to have COVID-19 until tests consider otherwise. This guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-investigation-and-management-of-suspected-sars-cov-2-reinfections/investigation-and-management-of-suspected-sars-cov-2-reinfections-a-guide-for-clinicians-and-infection-specialists

PHE has also published guidance for staff and managers in health and social care settings that considers in general, immunocompetent people should not be polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tested if they had a previous positive PCR test in the 90 days prior but that if they do get a test, if people are asymptomatic, a risk assessment should be undertaken to consider whether they are likely to have COVID-19 again. This guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-management-of-exposed-healthcare-workers-and-patients-in-hospital-settings/covid-19-management-of-exposed-healthcare-workers-and-patients-in-hospital-settings