Official figures for the week between 26 August and 1 September show 3,347 (0.9%) Day 2 tests on arrivals from amber list countries were positive, compared to 392 or 1% of Day 8 tests. 

For arrivals from red-listed countries, 165 (1.3%) Day 2 tests processed were positive, compared to 121 (1.4%) the previous week. Another 35 (0.7%) Day 8 tests were positive, compared to 31 (0.7%) the previous week.

The tiny percentages will fuel arguments in favour of relaxing some quarantine rules. Testing of arrivals has been led by the NHS’s Managed Quarantine Service since 15 February. Since then, 3.6 million people have quarantined at home or in a managed hotel.

Across the whole of the MQS programme, Day 2 tests in managed quarantine hotels saw the highest proportion of positive tests in the latest reporting week, with 1.3% of tests processed returning a positive result.

Between 26 August and 1 September, 406,231 people started quarantine, compared to 344,102 the previous week. In this period, 399,582 people quarantined at home and 6,649 in a hotel.