Omicron cases rises in country, The U.K. will no longer require vaccinated travellers to take a Covid-19 test before boarding a flight to the country, after airlines hard-hit by the omicron variant lobbied for the rules to be eased. U.K. revised lockdown travel guidelines.
A lateral-flow test must still be taken within two days of entering England, but the requirement for a more-costly PCR assessment will be eliminated, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Wednesday. People will no longer need to self-isolate on arrival unless they test positive. The changes take effect on Friday. Loosening border rules introduced to slow the spread of omicron will bring some relief to carriers after air travel was stymied during the year-end holiday period.
While governments have introduced a slew of restrictions, evidence is growing that the now-dominant variant produces milder symptoms than earlier Covid waves. “This will make travel much simpler and easier and means our customers can book and travel with confidence,” EasyJet Plc Chief Executive Officer Johan Lundgren said in a statement. He urged the government to go further and eliminate the post-arrival antigen test as well.
The pre-departure hurdle “discourages many from traveling for fear of being trapped overseas and incurring significant extra expense,” Johnson told Parliament following a regular three-week review of travel requirements. The country will now return to travel rules that were in place in October, he said. The measures will be instituted in parallel with a temporary relaxation of domestic Covid-19 testing rules to free up capacity with new cases remaining at record levels.
People who test positive using rapid antigen kits will no longer need PCR checks to confirm the result, the U.K. Health Security Agency said Wednesday. Shares of airlines dependent on the U.K. market, including Ryanair Holdings Plc, EasyJet and British Airways owner IAG SA, reversed earlier losses after local news outlets reported on the relaxation of travel testing requirements.
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The U.K., one of the first countries to identify omicron’s presence, has been subject to targeted restrictions from nations including Germany and France. Hong Kong on Wednesday said it would ban flights for two weeks from a number of places including Britain and the U.S.
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