Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of testing newly arrived international students for covid-19.

The Government continues to consider a range of options to manage the risk of imported cases, including the role COVID-19 virus testing could play as part of measures at the border.

To keep number of transmissions in the United Kingdom as low as possible, and to protect UK residents and international students in the UK, subject to some exemptions international arrivals are required to supply their contact and accommodation information, and self-isolate in their accommodation for 14 days where they have departed from or transited through a non-exempt country in the 14 days before the date of their arrival. It remains the case that we have the capacity to provide free tests to anyone in the UK who is showing symptoms.