The obligation for people traveling from abroad to England to be tested for coronavirus on arrival has been lifted on Friday.
The new regulation came into force at 4 a.m. UK time and 5 a.m. Central European Time and applies to passengers who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. This completely abolished the coronavirus testing obligations of travelers to England.
Until the first week of January, entrants had to take a coronavirus test before departure, and after arrival they had to undergo PCR screening and wait for the results in isolation.
The mandatory pre-departure test had already been abolished by the UK government earlier this year and the obligation to take a post-arrival PCR test was soon lifted, but a quick test had to be completed by the end of the second day after arrival. However, following a decision by the British government at the end of January, this last test requirement for fully vaccinated entrants has also been lifted from Friday.
British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, describing the new legislation at the time, said it had become clear that maintaining travel-related coronavirus testing would no longer be of practical benefit to fully vaccinated passengers.
Full vaccination is defined by the British Government as two doses of vaccine or one dose of a single-component Janssen vaccine. The UK government currently recognizes vaccines from Covaxin, Moderna, Janssen, Novavax (Nuvaxovid and Covovax), Oxford / AstraZeneca, Pfizer / BioNTech, and Sinopharm and Sinovac in China. Immigrants who are not fully vaccinated do not have to take the second test after arriving in England from Friday. This had to be done on the eighth day after arrival under current regulations.
Those who are not fully vaccinated must show a negative result to a coronavirus test two days before departure from Friday and a PCR test by the end of the second day after arrival. They must book the date of this test before departure.
However, they do not have to go into solitary confinement after arriving in England unless the result of the post-entry PCR test is positive.
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