London – The return of pre-departure tests for travellers heading to the United Kingdom has been described by the travel industry as a “hammer blow” to the sector.
From 04:00 GMT on Tuesday everyone aged 12 and over will have to take a test a maximum of 48 hours before leaving.
The government said the tightening of the rules was necessary because of an increase in cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus (COVID-19) linked to foreign travel.
But the Business Travel Association said livelihoods would be “devastated”.
Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab accepted the latest measures might “upset or disrupt” some people, but insisted it was right for ministers to take “incremental steps” early to avoid “bigger disruption” to travel and the economy.
It came as the latest figures from the UK Health Security Agency on Saturday showed a further 26 cases of the Omicron variant had been reported across the UK – taking the total so far to 160.
Scientists have raised concerns that the heavily-mutated variant may be more transmissible than the dominant Delta strain and be able to escape immunity from vaccines.
Under the changes, travellers will be required to show proof of a negative PCR or lateral flow test taken no earlier than 48 hours before departure, the government announced in a press release.
Currently, travellers only need to self-isolate until they test negative within two days of arriving into the country.
The government said the change to the rules followed new analysis from the UK Health and Security Agency that indicates the window between infection and infectiousness may be shorter for the Omicron variant.
This increases the effectiveness of pre-departure testing as it is more likely to identify positive cases before travel, the government said.
It was also announced Nigeria was being added to the red list of countries from Monday.
The only people allowed to enter the UK from red list countries are UK or Irish nationals, or UK residents, and they must quarantine in a hotel for ten days.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the measures were temporary.
The Labour party had called for pre-departure tests to be brought in, with Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper saying she was “relieved” it was now happening, but wished ministers had acted faster.
Prof. Mark Woolhouse, a member of the government’s Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (Spi-M), said the latest restrictions had come in “too late” to make a “material difference” to the course of a potential Omicron wave in the UK. (BBC)
