Under the current government rules, schoolchildren must self isolate and not go to school until they receive a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken on or before day 2 after they arrive in England from non-red list countries, even if their parents are fully vaccinated. Given the huge amount of PCR test demand, at the moment test results can take up to a week to be processed and returned by private testing organisations. 

These rules preclude children from regularly attending school for up to a week, even if they have never tested positive for COVID-19 in the past few weeks and have never been in close contact with people infected with coronavirus.

Some children are not going on holiday abroad just for leisure, but they need to travel for family reasons as they have relatives in other countries. Also, these children currently have to take a pre-departure lateral flow device (LFD) test before traveling back to England and cannot travel if they test positive.

These rules are unfair and a violation of children's right to education, and even more unfair considering that children that live with family members that tested positive for COVID-19 can regularly attend school in England if they are not infected.

Hon Grant Shapps MP, Hon Nadhim Zahawi MP, please urgently consider replacing these quarantine rules with daily lateral flow (LFD) tests while waiting for a negative PCR test result. This will allow children to regularly attend school and keep everyone safe at the same time.

A parent of Year 3 and Year 7 schoolchildren.