England to ease COVID testing rules for incoming passengers

By Kylie MacLellan | Reuters

LONDON – Fully vaccinated passengers arriving successful England from low-risk countries from Oct. 24 volition nary longer person to instrumentality costly COVID-19 tests, the British authorities said connected Thursday.

Last period the authorities simplified the rules for planetary question to England successful a boost to the tourism industry, which has blamed the investigating and analyzable rules for the slowness of a betterment successful aerial question implicit the summer.

The authorities said that from Oct. 24, the commencement of schoolhouse half-term holidays crossed overmuch of England, afloat vaccinated passengers and astir nether 18s arriving from countries not connected the reddish database could instrumentality a lateral travel trial connected oregon earlier time 2 of their arrival, alternatively than a PCR laboratory test.

Lateral travel tests are cheaper and supply a faster result.

“Taking distant costly mandatory PCR investigating volition boost the question manufacture and is simply a large measurement guardant successful normalizing planetary question and encouraging radical to publication holidays with confidence,” Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps said successful a statement.

The authorities said passengers indispensable usage lateral travel tests purchased from a backstage supplier listed connected the government’s website, alternatively than escaped ones disposable arsenic portion of the authorities Test and Trace scheme, and passengers indispensable upload a photograph of their trial and booking notation to verify the result.

Anyone with a affirmative lateral travel trial volition beryllium provided with a escaped confirmatory PCR trial done the National Health Service.