Travellers arriving in England from 15 December from a country not on the UK government¡¯s travel corridors list will be able to cut short their quarantine by getting a negative test no sooner than five days after arrival, the transport secretary has announced.
Grant Shapps announced that passengers will have the option to 'test to release' by taking a pre-booked test with a private provider paid for themselves. This requirement is in order to protect NHS's Test and Trace capacity.
Travellers who choose to use the scheme must book a test before they travel and have to include details of the test on their passenger locator form. The test will not be carried out at the port of arrival.
After day five of the isolation period, and on receipt of a negative result, the traveller can immediately finish self-isolating and return to following domestic rules. Those choosing not to take a test when arriving from a non-exempt country must continue to follow the current 14-day self-isolation requirements.
Shapps said: ¡°Our new testing strategy will allow us to travel more freely, see loved ones and drive international business. By giving people the choice to test on day five, we are also supporting the travel industry as it continues to rebuild out of the pandemic.¡±
The government said it had considered the evidence which demonstrates that "a test after five days of self-isolation provides materially better results than just having a test on arrival, as it allows time for the virus, should it be present, to incubate, helping reduce the risk of a false negative result.¡±
Health and social care secretary, Matt Hancock, said: ¡°Ensuring that safe travel is possible has been a priority for the global travel taskforce. This test will allow those who test negative to return to work and see their loved ones while abiding by domestic coronavirus restrictions.¡±
The business travel sector gave the announcement a cautious welcome but said it does not go far enough to restore confidence.?
Responding to the announcement, Clive Wratten, CEO of the Business Travel Association, said:?¡°Today¡¯s Department for Transport announcement is only a small step towards opening Britain for business. These tardy and incomplete recommendations undermine our ability to compete in the global marketplace.
"The Government urgently needs to introduce a requirement for all travellers into and out of the UK to have a pre-departure test. It must also give business travel an exemption from the blunt and misguided quarantine measures.¡±
Andrew Crawley, chief commercial officer of American Express Global Business Travel, said: ¡°Any imposed quarantine continues to cut off the UK economy from the rest of the world, effectively saying ¡®we¡¯re closed for business¡¯ at a time when we should be getting ready for Brexit and encouraging economic recovery.
¡°We appreciate the difficult position the government is in, but there are better ways to prioritise public health while still enabling vital international trade.¡±
He added: ¡°Replacing self-policed quarantine with pre-departure testing more intelligently mitigates risk while giving us data to make evidence-based decisions on scaling operations. We know other countries are doing this, and without meaningful action the UK will continue to fall behind.¡±
Chris Galanty, global CEO for Flight Centre¡¯s business travel divisions, said: ¡°News that the international travel quarantine period for arrivals to the UK will be reduced from fourteen days down to five is a welcome, but hugely necessary step for the business travel industry.??
¡°We are cautiously optimistic... Finally, we fully anticipate businesses will be willing to pay for tests as a means of facilitating travel in the short-to-medium term. This is a justifiable cost for companies to reduce quarantine time and enable them to resume business travel, which is so vital for the UK economy." ??