Last edit by: NewbieRunner
Mod note on thread engagement:
A reminder that this thread is about the self-isolation requirements for UK arrivals.
It is a help/Information resource for those travelling or returning to England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland from outside the UK. Let's concentrate on news, questions and answers that are relevant and on-topic and stay away from speculations about the spread of the virus, the performance of politicians and other topics which are more suitable for OMNI.
Please stay within these requirements to avoid issues.
A reminder that this thread is about the self-isolation requirements for UK arrivals.
It is a help/Information resource for those travelling or returning to England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland from outside the UK. Let's concentrate on news, questions and answers that are relevant and on-topic and stay away from speculations about the spread of the virus, the performance of politicians and other topics which are more suitable for OMNI.
Please stay within these requirements to avoid issues.
LATEST UPDATES
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-t...virus-covid-19
18 March travel to the UK changes
If you will arrive in the UK from abroad after 4am, Friday 18 March, you do not need to:
- take any COVID-19 tests before you travel or after you arrive
- fill in a UK passenger locator form before you travel
This will apply whether you are vaccinated or not.
You also will not need to quarantine when you arrive, in line with current rules.
Other countries still have COVID-19 entry rules in place. You should check travel advice before you travel.
If you will arrive in England before 4am, 18 March, you must follow the current rules as set out in this guidance.
*****
The following historical information is retained for the time being.
The Passenger Locator Form for passengers arriving into the UK can be found here:
https://visas-immigration.service.go...r-locator-form
This can only be completed once you are within 48 hours of arrival in the UK.
Exemption list from quarantine requirements - specific details:
https://www.gov.uk/government/public...k-border-rules
England
Statutory instrument for individual passengers arriving in to England: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/582/contents (this html version is updated, but may not have the very latest updates for Statutory Instruments released in the last few days)
Test to release for England only from 15 December, see post 4776 https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32841066-post4776.html
Statutory instrument for transport providers http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2.../contents/made
Scotland
Statutory instrument for individual passengers arriving in to Scotland: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2020/169/contents (this html version is updated)
Wales
Statutory instrument for individual passengers arriving in to Wales: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2020/574/contents (this html version is updated) &
Welsh language version: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2...0200574_we.pdf
Northern Ireland
Statutory instrument https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2021/99/contents (this html version is updated)
PRACTICAL GUIDANCE FOR QUICK RELEASE FROM SELF-ISOLATION (based on November 28th updates)
[This section has been moved lower down in the wiki post following the change in self-isolation rule on 7th January 2022[
Any PCR test noted as a UK Government Day 2 test will be accepted for release from self isolation as soon as you get the negative result. If it is any other PCR test (eg "Fit to Fly") and not advertised specifically as a Day 2 test then it won't be valid.
This means that you can:[list]
- Book a suitable Day 2 PCR test before you travel and use the booking reference for the test on the PLF (Passenger Locator Form).
- On your day of arrival go to your scheduled test.
- Proceed to you place of self-isolation and await the result, which will hopefully be same / next day.
Alternatively:- Book any Day 2 PCR test before you travel even if you do not intend to use this test, and use the booking reference for the test on the PLF to ensure entry to the UK.
- Note that you are not strictly required to have a PCR booking before arrival, but your carrier might not know that so you run the risk of being denied boarding
- On your day of arrival (or before end of Day 2) go to a walk-in test centre and take a different test to the one you booked.
- Proceed to you place of self-isolation and await the result, which will hopefully be same / next day.
If you are leaving the UK before the end of day 2 then you do not need to take a test, but are required to self-isolate for the duration of your trip (since you do not have a negative result). Also, if you are self-isolating while waiting for a result (and hence have not been informed of a positive result and need to isolate) you may travel to leave the country.
If you take a test and it is positive for any variant of COVID you will be required to isolate for 10 days from the date of the test.
Whether you take a test or not you may be contacted by the UK Test and Trace system at any time if it becomes apparent that you have been in contact with another case. This is very unlikely to happen before day 3 if it is in relation to your flight to UK. Depending on the suspected / identified variant for that case and if you are fully-vaccinated by an accepted programme (see below for links to what this means and valid exemptions) :- Omnicron or not fully-vaccinated: You will be required to isolated for 10 days, including a bar on travel to leave the country. A negative Day 2 test does not release you from this requirement.
- Other and fully vaccinated : You will not be required to isolate.
- Book any Day 2 PCR test before you travel even if you do not intend to use this test, and use the booking reference for the test on the PLF to ensure entry to the UK.
- Proceed to you place of self-isolation and await the result, which will hopefully be same / next day.
- On your day of arrival go to your scheduled test.
Test Providers for Day 2/8 tests & Day 5 Test to release
This section is for FTers to post their experience with specific providers (good or bad). Keep it brief and to the point. Please mention how the service is provided and your FT name.
DNA Workplace - Postal - Test kits arrived with me on time. Royal Mail slow for return. 5+ days for Day 2 result. #DaveS
DNA Workplace - Postal - Test kits both arrived on time, video of tests required, results by late evening Day 3 and Day 9. #TSE
ExpressTest Gatwick - Drive through - Tested early at 1000 a few times for TTR. Results came through in evening. #DaveS
NowTest - Postal - Day 2 kit arrived on time, day 8 did not. Will update with result arrival times when applicable. #wilsnunn
Collinson - Postal - Day 5 Test to Release kit arrived in time. Results and release by end of day 6. #tjcxx
CTM - Postal - Days 2/8 kits arrived together in time. Both sent results 2 days after posting. #tjcxx
Qured (Oncologica) - Postal -Day 2/8 kits arrived late. Results 3+ days from posting. #Gagravarr
Qured (Oncologica) - Postal - Day 2/8 kits arrived on time. Day 2 result on Day 5 and Day 8 result on Day 10 - happy customer! #EddLegll
Qured (Ocnologica) - Postal - Day 2/8 kits arrived on time. Day 2 result on Day 5 (after bedtime; ironically after my TTR result). #KSVVZ2015
Anglia DNA - Postal - Day 2/8 kits arrived early. (Both were labelled Day2). Results on Day 4 and Day 9. Cheapest on the list at the time, and good service/result. #tjcxx
Qured - Pre-flight test booked and bought through BA. Very efficient service. Highly recommended. #lhrsfo
Randox - Days 2 and 8. Booked two days before return, using BA discount. Kits already arrived on return. Slightly confusing instructions but manageable. Used Randox dropbox and results next day. Good. #lhrsfo
Randox - Day 2 (also used as pre departure test for a London to Milan flight). Used a drop box and results arrived at midnight the next day. #11101
Randox - Day 2 test centre - 2h30 queues outside the test centre in Waterloo. Results of antigen arrived 45 minutes later. #11101
Collinson - Test to Release at LHR T2. Good trip out! Very efficient service and well organised. Used BA discount. Results by end of day. Excellent. #lhrsfo
DAM - Test to Release in Fulham (they have many locations) - the cheapest fast turnaround TTR we have found. They promise 24 hours but in reality me, my wife, and my son (on different days) have received results inside of 12 hours. Very efficient staff as well. Princes outside of Central London as low as 99 GBP. Fulham is 129 GBP. #KSVVZ2015
Boots/Source Bioscience - days 2&8. Both packs sent in the same mail, waiting at the isolation address. Dropped off at postbox at 4pm, result back next day between 4 and 5 pm, very effective. Bought from Boots, Ł160, but same package sold directly bu Source Bioscience is just Ł120. Aaargh! Instructions said nasal and throat swabs, did only nasal and marked accordingly, no issues. #WilcoRoger
Collinsons/Stansted walkin TTR - test taken 1:30 pm, email with results 10:10 pm same day If the BA20OFF doesn't work (didn't work for us) there's another discount on the airport's site #WilcoRoger
Ordered Day-2 kit from Chronomics a week before our return for Ł18.99. Duly dispatched day we were returning to UK, so arrived on day following return. Reasonably simple process to do test and upload -ve result picture. Not sure where +ve result would have led to... #EsherFlyer
Hale Clinic testing centre (near Oxford Circus) - While not the least expensive, appoint schedules are accurate and results returned in promised timeframe. I've used the clinic for Day 2 tests (twice) and antigen test for US (once). I would def utilize again. #ecaarch
Halo at T5 (Sofitel) - Day 2 PCR spit test. Took the test 7pm, results arrived 7am the next day. No queues but a slightly awkward process to follow.
Useful data sources:
New cases per 100k - 7 days: https://covid19.who.int/table
New tests per 1000 - 7 days: https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing
Vaccination doses per 100: https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations
Sequenced samples uploaded to GISAID: https://www.gisaid.org/index.php?id=208
NHS Track & Trace data (positivity rates for arriving passengers are published every three weeks, so if you can't find the data in the current release it will be in one of the previous two) https://www.gov.uk/government/collec...weekly-reports https://assets.publishing.service.go...ut_week_50.ods
UK daily COVID data https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/?_ga...827.1594116739
Risk assessment methodology to inform international travel traffic light system
Data informing international travel traffic-light risk assessments
Testing Terminology
Notes which may assist with understanding which tests to use and with "reuse" of UK tests for other countries regulations:
- LFT: Lateral Flow Test - A rapid antigen test using nasal / throat swab typically performed by the traveler at home, hotel, etc using simple disposable device. Usually tests the "outer shell" of the nucleus (which causes the symptoms and is reasonably stable across variants) and not the "spikes" (which allow new variants to invade more easily), so gives a positive result for many variants. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-...d_antigen_test)
- PCR: Polymerase Chain Reaction - A laboratory based test which looks at the nucleus of the virus to determine which specific variant it is. After a positive LFT test ("I have some form of COVID") a PCR test ("You have the Gamma variant") allows identification and tracking of new variants to see if they are likely to become a "variant of concern". (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymerase_chain_reaction)
- NAAT: Nucleic Acid Amplification Test - A general class of laboratory based tests which includes PCR, LAMP, etc tests. (See https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019...b/naats.html)
UK arrivals - pre-departure, quarantine and post-arrival [currently no requirements]
#2671
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Kazakhstan
Programs: BA Gold, AirAstana Silver (much use as chocolate teapot)
Posts: 867
- It says that if travelling by car from, say, Germany or the Netherlands via Belgium, people will have to self-isolate unless everyone stayed in the car throughout the journey on Belgian soil, and nobody got in or out of the car at any point.
The DfT did not go so far as to comment on the impact of opening the window during the journey but that's about as much concession to not micromanaging as was conceded!
The DfT did not go so far as to comment on the impact of opening the window during the journey but that's about as much concession to not micromanaging as was conceded!
The whole thing is positively laughable.....
#2672
Join Date: Mar 2018
Programs: BA
Posts: 8
This page updates daily with new data for 14-day cases. I assume it's from here and plotted manually into excel (if you don't use the plug in mentioned in earlier post).
UK creeping up towards 20, which may put UK at risk of turning red in some countries, which would be another blow for travel(apologies for slightly off topic)!
Edit: I was wrong - ECDC has UK at 15.7 today, and CWS has 14.6. Well, hopefully you find the ECDC site useful!
Last edited by OhFive; Aug 7, 2020 at 6:07 am Reason: I was wrong
#2673
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 155
Thank you very much for doing this.
In Excel 2013, I get errors in row 9 and having clicked Evaluate Formula, I think the error comes from:
VLOOKUP(_xlfn.CONCAT)
when converting the dates from row 8 - it seems my version of Excel isn't compatible, is there an easy replacement for the formula? Thanks
In Excel 2013, I get errors in row 9 and having clicked Evaluate Formula, I think the error comes from:
VLOOKUP(_xlfn.CONCAT)
when converting the dates from row 8 - it seems my version of Excel isn't compatible, is there an easy replacement for the formula? Thanks
When I've fixed the above, I'll remove the automatic refresh on opening the workbook, and give directions for manually updating the data, to see if that helps.
#2675
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,528
What would you need to do if you flew to France, spent a week only in France and then boarded a Eurostar in Lille to travel back to London. All Eurostar services from Lille to London originate in Brussels so you'd be mixing with people who had come from Belgium.
Hypothetical for me but I'm sure this will affect some.
Hypothetical for me but I'm sure this will affect some.
However, if, for instance, you were to take a train going, say, from Germany to France via Brussels, then indeed, your point would become relevant and I guess that given the explanation they gave, they'd consider you to have "been" to Belgium just because people would have got on/or off the train in Brussels, Liege or wherever.
#2676
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: LHR/ATH
Programs: Amex Platinum, LH SEN (Gold), BA Bronze
Posts: 4,489
Is France next? Arguably that is the one that will affect the most British people.
#2677
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 2,553
I am sorry but I disagree with your reading of the form and the SI.
By your logic if you arrive in the UK from a non exempt country, leave next day to an exempt one (say a quick B2b to AMS), then on your return you will have got out of self isolation completely. This is clearly not the case.
By your logic if you arrive in the UK from a non exempt country, leave next day to an exempt one (say a quick B2b to AMS), then on your return you will have got out of self isolation completely. This is clearly not the case.
It just doesn't make sense that you're allowed to roam free but then suddenly not because of a change to a location ofa previous trip.
The form page has a phone number...maybe I'll give it a call and see if they can shed any light.
#2678
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: SEA/ORD/ADB
Programs: TK ELPL (*G), AS 100K (OWE), BA Gold (OWE), Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Plat, IHG Plat
Posts: 7,763
@corporate-wage-slave, any chance you can add Turkey to your tracker? The trend doesn't seem too promising there.
#2679
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,958
Indeed it is not, but your original quarantine from the first trip would still be ticking so upon coming back you'd still have to finish it, even if exempt from the itinerary of the second trip.
It just doesn't make sense that you're allowed to roam free but then suddenly not because of a change to a location ofa previous trip.
The form page has a phone number...maybe I'll give it a call and see if they can shed any light.
It just doesn't make sense that you're allowed to roam free but then suddenly not because of a change to a location ofa previous trip.
The form page has a phone number...maybe I'll give it a call and see if they can shed any light.
If I may ask, how often are you actually travelling at the moment and to which countries?
#2680
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 133
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/cases-2019-ncov-eueea
This page updates daily with new data for 14-day cases. I assume it's from here and plotted manually into excel (if you don't use the plug in mentioned in earlier post).
UK creeping up towards 20, which may put UK at risk of turning red in some countries, which would be another blow for travel(apologies for slightly off topic)!
Edit: I was wrong - ECDC has UK at 15.7 today, and CWS has 14.6. Well, hopefully you find the ECDC site useful!
This page updates daily with new data for 14-day cases. I assume it's from here and plotted manually into excel (if you don't use the plug in mentioned in earlier post).
UK creeping up towards 20, which may put UK at risk of turning red in some countries, which would be another blow for travel(apologies for slightly off topic)!
Edit: I was wrong - ECDC has UK at 15.7 today, and CWS has 14.6. Well, hopefully you find the ECDC site useful!
Population: 67,000,000 (give or take)
67,000,000/100,000 = 670
670*20(Eu Threshold) = 13,400
13,400/14(days) = 957
So the UK would need to average 957 cases per day over a 14 day period to risk being blocked from some other EU countries.
#2681
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 2,553
I'm not and am fully back in the UK now and it all went well. At this stage I'm just with my nerd hat on and genuinely curious!
#2682
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,958
Fair enough. But I doubt you will get an accurate answer to these kinds of convoluted situations calling someone sat on a helpline. As you say, these kinds of obscure situations are questions for nerds like us on internet boards, not some poor sap sat on the end of a phone mostly trying to deal with people who can't manage to fill out the form to begin with.
#2683
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,803
There have been 10 fixed penalties issues to date, 9 for failure to fill in the form, 1 for self isolation breach, namely that idiot in Lincoln who took a call from PHE while down the pub and went to a supermarket when Caught By The Fuzz.
#2684
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,803
Here are Saturday's figures
Malta is not looking good, they are getting a bit too close to the 50 to 60 danger zone. Nowhere else strikes me as worrying at the moment.
Malta is not looking good, they are getting a bit too close to the 50 to 60 danger zone. Nowhere else strikes me as worrying at the moment.
#2685
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,528
Also worth noting that Swedish figures are going slightly up again for the past few days so for those hoping it'd turn green, this may be delayed a bit further. Portugal is still looking good on the other hand.