From 4am on Friday (January 7th), people returning to England will not have to take pre-departure tests, as announced by the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, in the House of Commons this afternoon. He also added that people arriving in England will no longer have to isolate until they get a negative PCR test.
The PM said that instead of a PCR test, anyone arriving in England will have to take a lateral flow test at the end of day two after arriving instead, if that is positive they will then have to take a PCR test to confirm their positivity and to help identify any new variants.
This means that people returning from holidays in Spain and the Canary Islands no longer need a pre-departure test from 4am on Friday, and don’t need to isolate until they have a day 2 PCR test result, they can just do a Lateral Flow Test at home on Day 2.
The changes come after the airline union, Airlines UK, and Manchester Airports Group, called for the removal of all COVID testing restrictions saying it would have no real impact on Omicron numbers.
Karen Dee, head of the Airport Operators Association, said removing the restrictions "is a welcome recognition that they no longer serve a purpose, now Omicron is the dominant variant in the UK".
She said that the Welsh, Scottish, and Northern Irish governments should follow suit, and added that airlines, airports, and tour operators are still facing difficulties as other countries have imposed restrictions on UK arrivals, while reservations have taken a major hit during the crucial Christmas booking period.
Currently, fully vaccinated travellers into the UK must take a pre-departure test and self-isolate until they receive a negative result from a post-arrival PCR test, and those who are not fully vaccinated must self-isolate for 10 days after they arrive.
Last month, the government removed all 11 countries from its travel "red list", partly reversing the tightening of restrictions in order to contain the spread of Omicron from abroad. Airlines UK said at the time that costly testing and isolation measures ought to be removed as well for the same reason, and has now reiterated that plea.
They said the research showed the removal of all testing requirements on international travel this month would not impact the spread of Omicron in the UK.
It also found that the introduction of pre-departure and day two PCR testing in late November and early December respectively, had little impact on the spread of Omicron in the UK, compared to a scenario where the policy of a single, day two antigen test remained the same.
Fears over the Omicron variant and tighter restrictions imposed before Christmas have already been revealed to have had an impact on demand for Tui and Ryanair. But hopes that conditions will ease, in the light of suggestions that Omicron will cause less serious illness than other variants, have in recent days created a more optimistic outlook for the tourism sector.
