Secondary school pupils could be told to wear face-masks in school once again to keep Covid at bay this winter, the Education Secretary has admitted.
Nadhim Zahawi said he did not want to see the return of bubbles where whole classes or year groups were sent home after a positive test.
But he admitted that compulsory face-masks in lessons could make a come-back if cases spike.
"I've got a contingency plan, as you would expect me to do. It contains lots of contingencies, including masks, absolutely," he told Sky News.
The mandatory wearing of face coverings in schools and colleges was scrapped in May, but Government guidance says that directors of public health could advise schools to reintroduce them if cases spike.
It comes after Government figures showed the number of children out of school for Covid-19 related reasons in England increased by two thirds in a fortnight.
The DfE estimates that 2.5% of all pupils - more than 204,000 children - were not in class for reasons connected to coronavirus on Thursday last week.
This is up from 122,300 children, or 1.5% of all pupils, on September 16 - a 67% rise from two weeks ago.
Mr Zahawi also defended the slow rollout of carbon dioxide monitors which were first promised by the Department for Education in August.
In Wales, secondary school and college pupils will be advised to take daily lateral flow tests for seven days if someone in their household tests positive for coronavirus, the Welsh Government has announced.
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Zahawi said he was concerned about the impact Covid-19 measures had on attendance.
He said: "The good news is that - and thanks to the brilliant teachers and support staff and parents and children - 99% of schools are open.
"Attendance has gone up, the last set of figures I looked at was about 90%, which obviously will fluctuate depending on infection rates.
"But my priority is to protect education, keep those schools open."
But he said he was not looking to return to the bubble system to do so, "because actually, you saw the fall off in attendance which really does harm mental wellbeing, mental health of children".
That is despite Englnad’s schools previously being told backup plans must “cover the possibility that in some local areas it may become necessary to reintroduce ‘bubbles’ for a temporary period, to reduce mixing between groups.
“Any decision to recommend the reintroduction of ‘bubbles’ would not be taken lightly and would need to take account of the detrimental impact they can have on the delivery of education.”
