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Date Published: 18/10/2021
ARCHIVED - Day 2 PCRs for entry into UK to be scrapped on October 24
Fully vaccinated people will be able to take a cheaper lateral flow test on day 2 as of October 24
From October 24, fully vaccinated passengers and under-18s arriving in England from countries not on the red list can take day 2 lateral flow rapid test instead of a full PCR. This is good news for English people in Spain as it will make it cheaper to travel to England from Spain and other countries not on the red list.
The new lateral flow tests can be booked through private providers from Friday October 22, just in time for people going back to the UK after half term. The list of official providers will be published on the gov.uk website on the same Friday. These private providers are being used “to address any potential shortage of supply” by the NHS, while the government is extending regulations and publishing new protocol that will permit the use of “tests supplied to the private testing market that are pending validation”, according to the gov.uk website.
Passengers flying from Spain to England will need to take a photo of their lateral flow test result and booking reference supplied by the private provider and send it back to them to verify the result. It is also possible to book a test on arrival into the UK at testing centres located in some airports.
Those that have already bought a PCR do not need to buy another test. The arrival test must be taken on or before the second day after you arrive in the UK.
The British government has made this change to open up international travel based on the advancing vaccination programme in the UK and other countries, just two weeks after it removed the green and amber lists on the traffic light system and announced further changes at the end of this month. They are going ahead with the new changes to international travel rules even as Britain is in the grip of a new wave of Covid-19 that is infecting over 40,000 people a day. This is in contrast to Spain, where new daily cases of coronavirus have fallen to under 2,000 per day.
Free subsequent PCR tests will be available from the NHS to doublecheck positive results. Anyone who tests positive on their lateral flow test will need to self-isolate and take a confirmatory PCR test.
What else do you need to travel to the UK?
Anyone entering England must also complete a passenger locator form before travelling, including a test booking reference number supplied by a testing provider. Travellers will be able to upload their test booking reference to the passenger locator form from October 22, ready for arrival in the UK from October 24 onwards.
What about travel rules if you’re not fully vaccinated?
Passengers coming from non-red list countries who are not fully vaccinated with an authorised vaccine, either being double jabbed with AstraZeneca, Moderna or Pfizer, or having one dose of the Janssen vaccine, must still take a pre-departure test, a PCR test on day 2 and day 8, and self-isolate for 10 days (with the option of Test to Release on day 5).
Image: Archive
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