The government is looking at how coronavirus testing of school pupils could help the return to the classroom, a health minister has confirmed.

Helen Whately said there is “work in progress” after being questioned about reports that parents could be asked to test their children at home twice a week.

The Telegraph is reporting that schools will be responsible for the mass testing of secondary students and that year groups may return in a staggered manner to ensure all pupils can be tested once on arrival. It suggests this may take up to two weeks for large schools.

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Ms Whately told BBC Radio 4‘s Today programme: “There is work being done to look at how testing will help schools come back. But there will be more details set out about that next week.”

Prime minister Boris Johnson will outline his “road map” out of lockdown on Monday after spending the week analysing data on coronavirus cases, deaths and hospital admissions.

Asked about reports that parents of secondary school children will be asked to administer rapid flow tests during term time, Ms Whatley said: “I’m not going to get drawn into that.”

But she went on: “There is work in progress looking at how testing can support schools to come back.

“There’s already testing going on in schools, where you have children of key workers and teachers in schools at the moment, because schools aren’t completely closed, and there is work going on at the moment about the details of the return to schools, and there will be more said about that next week.”