The UK government has finally released the list of approved providers of Covid tests?for travellers wanting to use the test to release scheme just a few hours before the scheme starts.
Under the scheme, people arriving in England from Tuesday 15 December can pay for a private Covid test a minimum of five full days after their arrival from a country not on the travel corridors list. If the test result is negative, the traveller is permitted to end their self-isolation immediately.
The initial eleven approved providers are Axiom Laboratory, Chronomics, DNA Workplace, Halo Verify, Medicspot, Oncologica, Prenetics/iDNA, Screen4, Samedaydoctor, The London General Practice and The Private GP Clinic.
Some of the providers offer in-person testing, such as Screen4 which has clinics in Heathrow, the City of London, Manchester and Birmingham among other places. Other providers offer postal testing. The prices of the tests vary and start from ?89.
The list will be continually updated by the Department of Health and Social Care as providers self-declare that they meet the required standards.
To use the scheme, travellers must pre-book a test and inform the government on their passenger locator form.
On Friday, the government announced it would reduce the length of quarantine from 14 to ten days?starting from today.??