COVID-19: Pre-departure tests now required for UK arrivals to slow the spread of Omicron | UK news

[ad_1]

People arriving in the UK from abroad are now required to get tested for COVID-19 before they can travel, under new rules designed to slow the spread of the Omicron variant.

The changes, which took effect at 4 a.m. on Tuesday, will mean:

• Anyone traveling from countries not on the Red List must take a pre-departure test two days before their departure

• A person who has tested positive will not be allowed to travel

• The government website says that if a person’s trip to England is a multi-legged trip, the test must be taken in the two days before the start of the first trip

• Scotland and Wales said they would implement similar measures

• Hotel quarantine will remain for those who were in the red list country within 10 days of their departure: Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Everything you need to know about the new travel rules

Catch up on daily broadcasts on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Spreaker

It comes after Health Minister Sajid Javid admitted that the new form is now spreading within the community, rather than just being linked to returning travelers.

On Monday, he said some of the UK’s 336 confirmed Omicron cases were not related to travel, and insisted the travel procedures were temporary.

“The industry will not survive if there are no sales.”

The travel industry has responded angrily to the new test rules and previous additions to the red list.

Alistair Rowland, chairman of ABTA – The Travel Association, told Sky News: “The industry wouldn’t survive at all if there were no sales. At the moment, there are no sales.

“Since announcing last weekend, no one has booked anything for the near term. In September, in October, they were half the sales for this winter season.

“So it’s a very important change and ABTA is all about the health and safety of consumers, but only if the government finally recognizes the industry for the first time and supports it through this series of changes.”

Please use Chrome browser for an accessible video player

1:16 Tests will be required before traveling to the UK

It is not yet known how the Omicron variant differs from Delta, but some early indications from the UK’s Health Security Agency suggest that the interval between infection and infection may be shorter.

Mr Javid said none of the cases of Omicron in the UK had yet resulted in hospitalization.

Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on the government to “do everything it can” to lower the price of pre-departure tests, saying people were “really affected by unjustifiable prices”.

Also on Tuesday, EU health ministers will discuss whether to adjust travel restrictions imposed on South African countries after the Omicron variant was first reported by South African scientists.

They can approve PCR tests for vaccinated third-country nationals from the region, meaning some travel bans could be lifted within a week, according to Bloomberg.

UK travel restrictions are due to be reviewed on 20 December.

[ad_2]