Laurence Dollimore
ANYONE travelling to England from abroad must produce a negative coronavirus test to enter the country, the Government has announced.
Much like Spain, the test needs to be taken up to 72 hours before departure, with failure to do so bringing a £500 fine, reports Sky News.
The new rules apply to all travellers, including UK nationals, whether they arrive by boat, plane or train.
If you are arriving from a country not on the UK’s safe corridor list, you must still self-isolate for 10 days, even if you tested negative.
Travellers can reduce their self-isolation period if they take another test and produce a second negative result on or after day five of their quarantine.
As ever, arrivals to England will be required to fill in a Passenger Locator Form, which tells authorities where they will be self-isolating.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “We already have significant measures in place to prevent imported cases of COVID-19, but with new strains of the virus developing internationally we must take further precautions.
“Taken together with the existing mandatory self-isolation period for passengers returning from high-risk countries, pre-departure tests will provide a further line of defence – helping us control the virus as we roll out the vaccine at pace over the coming weeks.”
Border Force officials will be demanding passengers show their test results from next week.
The new rule is currently only in place in England but talks are underway to extend it to the rest of the UK nations.
Exemptions to the rule include children under 11, hauliers, crews and people coming from countries unable to perform tests, as well as arrivals from the Common Travel Area with Ireland.
