The pre-departure test requirements for fully-vaccinated passengers have been removed by the government.
The government has decided to scrap the self-isolation on arrival and the requirement for a lateral flow test to be taken within 48 hours of arrival.
Pre-departure tests for travel to England will be removed from the international travel rules from 4am on January 7.
In the early hours of Sunday, January 9, the tests will be accepted in place of the tests for arrivals. The tests can be booked from Friday, January 7.
On arrival, those who are not fully vaccination must self-isolated.
The devolution administrations in Scotland and Northern Ireland are yet to confirm their stance on relaxing testing restrictions.
Boris Johnson said that travel restrictions were introduced to slow the Omicron variant's arrival in the country. These measures are having a limited impact on the growth of cases while posing a significant cost to the travel industry.
He said that the measures were balanced to ensure that we could live with Covid without letting our guard down. The biggest and fastest booster campaign in Europe is what makes this possible.
The introduction of pre-departure tests for travel was announced in December in order to stop the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
The government placed a number of African countries on its international travel red list, but they were all removed on December 14 when Omicron reached community transmission in the UK.
Since international travel resumed after Covid up to October 24 2021, there have been tests for arrivals from countries not on the red travel list.
Plan B measures to combat Covid-19 will remain in place, the government confirmed today.
Henry Smith, chair of the all party parliamentary group for the future of aviation, said that the reduction in international travel Covid testing restrictions is a very welcome step forward.
It is essential that the government works with industry to come up with a long-term plan which will help these vital industries begin their road to recovery.
Ian Bell, head of travel and tourism at the consultancy, said that the government has thrown the travel sector a lifeline by removing the need for passengers to test before travelling.
He said that the measures in December last year had a negative impact on consumer confidence to book and travel.
He said the policy change will help to restore consumer confidence and generate much-needed cash for travel businesses ahead of the crunch point at the end of March when many businesses will need to demonstrate their financial viability to renew their licenses.
Bell warned the government that a suite of tailored measures, including industry specific grants, is still needed to prevent widespread distress in the travel sector.
The changes to travel testing will make international travel simpler and easier for people who want to visit family and friends abroad, according to Alex Templeton, chief executive of Covid test provider Qured.
He warned that testing for travel provides a vital line of defence against new variants, so he wouldn't be going anywhere for quite some time.
He said testing needs to be a safe, easy and cost effective protective measure.
The government's decision is not supported by the Laboratory and Testing Industry Organisation.
They said that they believe that the best way to protect our population from Covid-19 is to use a test called the PCR.
We know that a cheaper and faster test like the Lateral Flow can be used to manage an infectious population. We don't believe it's the right time to scrap travel tests at this point.
We are very concerned about the potential for major disruption for those arriving in the UK by changing back to the old tests by Sunday at 4am, especially for passengers trying to rebook new tests.
