Travellers heading to the UK will once again be required to take a pre-departure Covid-19 test from 4am on Tuesday (7 December), health secretary Sajid Javid has confirmed.
Under the current rules, travellers only need to self isolate until they test negative for Covid-19 within two days of their arrival. They will now need to take an antigen or PCR test before departing to the UK.
The move comes amid heightened concern over the Omicron variant of Covid-19.Javid announced the overhaul on Saturday (4 December). He tweeted : “From 4am Tuesday, anyone travelling to the UK from countries not on the red list will be required to take a pre-departure test, regardless of their vaccination status.
“Vaccines remain our first line of defence – the best way to protect yourself and your loved ones. Please get vaccinated or get boosted as soon as you can.” Nigeria will also be red-listed, making it the 11th African country to be added to the category, from Monday (6 December) at 4am.
Speaking to Sky News, Javid said the government’s strategy since the start of the pandemic has been to “buy time” to assess the severity of the virus. “We’ve always said we’ll act swiftly if new data requires it,” he added. “Over the recent days we have learnt of a significant number of growing cases linked to travel with Nigeria. “There are 27 cases already in England and that’s growing and Nigeria is second only to South Africa in terms of linked cases to Omicron, so today the government has decided to add Nigeria to the travel red list.”
According to Javid, the pre-departure test will be required a maximum of 48hrs before the departure time.
“We’ve been clear that we will take action if it is necessary but it is important to whilst we are introducing these new border measures today to remember that vaccinations are our first line of defence and the booster programme – and the expansion of the booster programme – is hugely important,” he continued.
The news comes – somewhat surprisingly – just a day after transport secretary Grant Shapps told The Telegraph’s Chopper’s Politics podcast the government did not want to “kill off the travel sector” and he ruled out a return to pre-departure testing for travellers entering the UK.
“Do you want to kill off the travel sector again without knowing that you need to? Or do you want to take the right level of calibrated response?,” he said. “This government thinks we should take a calibrated response, which doesn’t take us right back to the beginning of this [pandemic]…
“I believe in transport and I don’t want to see a world where we’re always finding excuses to restrict it. Of course, you’ve got to respond responsibly. That’s what I think we’ve done.”
