The health secretary has announced that all international arrivals to the UK will have to take a pre-departure Covid-19 test to tackle the new Omicron variant. Sajid Javid said that the tightened requirements will come into force at 4am on Tuesday.
The proof of a negative lateral flow test must have been taken at least 48 hours before the departure time. People only need to self-isolated until they test negative.
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How likely is the Omicron Covid variant in the UK?
Theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/02/how-probable-omicron-covid-variant-take-hold-uk
People coming to Scotland and Wales from abroad will need to take a pre-departure Covid test. The Department of Health and Social Care said the rules would apply to all the nations.
Nigeria will be added to the travel red lists of England, Scotland and Wales.
The UK Health Security Agency said that the total number of confirmed Omicron cases had risen to 160 on Saturday, up 26 from the previous day.
The government was taking further action to slow the incursion of the variant and Javid urged the public to have their boosters when offered.
The chief executive of the Airport Operators Association called the introduction of pre-departure tests a devastating blow to the travel industry. The policy will act as a major deterrent to travel according to Karen Dee. She said it was a devastating blow for aviation and tourism.
Pre-departure tests act as a major deterrent to travel and most of the limited remaining demand will now fall away, just as airports were hoping for a small boost over the Christmas holiday.
Travel and aviation are the only sectors that have restrictions in response to the Omicron variant. The UK and devolved governments should have done the right thing and announced support for our businesses and staff to get through another period of shutdown.
The CEO of Airlines UK called the decision premature. He said that they didn't have the clinical evidence. The red list extension made sense, but we know from experience that blanket restrictions do not stop the importation of variant.
It is already here. It is impossible for anyone to plan because they have changed their travel advice twice in a week. The speed of the booster programme makes it necessary to remove these measures as quickly as possible.
Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, said that the move would be difficult for the travel industry. As the scientists work to understand the new Omicron variant, we need to apply additional caution. We appreciate that this will be difficult for the travel sector as we protect the progress of our world-leading vax & booster programme.
His comments came one day after he said that pre-departure tests wouldn't be needed.
The shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, said that the health secretary accepted Labour's call for pre-departure tests, but why up to 48 hours before flight?
Increasing the number of booster jabs to 500,000 a day is what he called for.
