As children across the North West prepare to return to school how will Covid-19 testing work for students and staff?
As schools in the North West reopen, teachers and secondary school students will be expected to get tested for Covid-19 regularly.
The government is giving millions of children access to rapid testing under its roadmap plans for schools to reopen on 8 March.
It is hoped that measures, including regular testing and face masks in corridors, will help ensure GCSE pupils and A-level students do not miss out on their education because of the pandemic.
Here's how testing in schools will work:
Staff and students at secondary schools and colleges - including special schools, private schools and hospitals schools - will be offered two tests a week. The government said it is prioritising these schools because they face greater disruption from the spread of coronavirus.
Whole families of these children will also be able to test themselves twice a week from home.
Staff in primary schools and early years will also be offered two tests a week.
How will testing in schools work?
In the first two weeks of schools reopening from 8 March, there will be three tests at school and one at home. The first three tests at school will be seen as training for the children.
Thereafter, pupils and staff will be given rapid lateral flow tests to take twice a week at home. It is recommended that tests are done before coming into school, ideally in the morning. Results take around 30 minutes.
What happens if my child tests positive?
The student or staff member who tested positive will need to tell the school about the result, go home if they are in school, and self-isolate for 10 days or until they have recovered from any symptoms. People they live with must also self-isolate.
If they tested positive with a lateral flow test at home, they must also book a PCR lab test. If they tested positive at school, they will not need to do so.
The student or staff member will need to test themselves with lateral flow test kits two more times afterwards - with each test spaced three to five days apart.
How will school testing sites work?
Secondary schools and colleges are expected to have a designated testing site (Asymptomatic Testing Site) - although in most cases, staff and students will be testing themselves at home.
The testing site will be for students who are unable to test themselves at home.
Teaching unions though have expressed concerns about testing plans and how it will affect lessons, especially in the first week.
Peter Middleman is from the National Education Union:
How is testing in schools happening in Europe?
Schools in Austria reopened three weeks ago. Nine year old Lilly could not wait to get back to lessons.
After months of home schooling she was really looking forward to seeing her friends, getting out of the house and away from the kitchen table.
Lilly lives in St Johann, a small town in the Tirol region of Austria, about 100km from the city of Innsbruck, the venue for three Winter Olympic Games.
Like everywhere else, they are slowly trying to get back to normality. One of the first steps was getting children back into school. To do that, an intensive Covid-19 testing scheme was put in place, for both primary and secondary school pupils.
Twice a week, every Monday and Wednesday, Lilly's teacher hands out tests to children in the classroom.
Lilly and her mum Sally, who is from Northern England, showed us how it's done:
For Sally, the testing means Lilly can get on with learning. And Lilly says that she and her classmates actually think it is quite 'cool' to be able to do their own tests.
In the UK, primary school pupils will not be tested. According to Public Health England, there are limited public health benefits attached to testing primary pupils.
It added younger children may find the testing process unpleasant and may be unable to self-swab.