Jun 4, 2020, 5:57 am
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]
Jul 1, 2021, 9:42 am
#9001
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: BA Gold, UA, Southwest
Posts: 119
An A+ Heathrow experience for us with the nicest Border Force officer who was wonderful with my 24-year-old special needs son. He was so great, I'm actually going to write to BF to give him props. Following up on my earlier post about how to handle a special needs adult with track and trace and the passenger locator, the officer said what I'd done with the form was great--I ended up putting down a phone number but saying my son was only available via text as he couldn't respond to questions. He said they shouldn't give me any trouble and if they did they weren't doing their job, LOL.
Jul 1, 2021, 10:16 am
#9002
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,709
Wow, so sorry to hear this! We just got to our isolation home after flying in to LHR Terminal 5 at 13:45 earlier today. I hate to say this, but we were through in 5-10 minutes and were picking up Costa about 30 minutes after touchdown. (US passports)
An A+ Heathrow experience for us with the nicest Border Force officer who was wonderful with my 24-year-old special needs son. He was so great, I'm actually going to write to BF to give him props. Following up on my earlier post about how to handle a special needs adult with track and trace and the passenger locator, the officer said what I'd done with the form was great--I ended up putting down a phone number but saying my son was only available via text as he couldn't respond to questions. He said they shouldn't give me any trouble and if they did they weren't doing their job, LOL.
An A+ Heathrow experience for us with the nicest Border Force officer who was wonderful with my 24-year-old special needs son. He was so great, I'm actually going to write to BF to give him props. Following up on my earlier post about how to handle a special needs adult with track and trace and the passenger locator, the officer said what I'd done with the form was great--I ended up putting down a phone number but saying my son was only available via text as he couldn't respond to questions. He said they shouldn't give me any trouble and if they did they weren't doing their job, LOL.
Jul 1, 2021, 10:30 am
#9003
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: LON, between FAB and EGTD
Programs: OWS - AA Lifetime Platinum, BA nobody (blue)
Posts: 869
I've just received my Day 2 result from Dante Labs, and as I'm opting in to TTR, I'm thinking of hanging on to the Day 8 test for my next departure. Which is not till September, so it would have to be taken at Day 72 !! Stretching it, but it doesn't say no I can't.
My actual question is about the certificate. The one I just received for Day 2 has all the required info (name, d.o.b., time of test, result, lab name) but does not explicitly say PCR. It does say Day 2 test, which means it has to be PCR, but I wouldn't want to trust check in agents etc. to go for it. I can only assume at the moment the Day 8 test result will have the same information. Any opinion -- is this not good enough ?
Edit - a report on Dante Labs performance. It was Ł84, which was as good as I could find, having weeded out the dross that say Ł55 but then turn out to be for one test only. The package with both tests arrived at home early on Day 1. I put the test in the post that same morning, and I have the result this afternoon, Day 3.
My actual question is about the certificate. The one I just received for Day 2 has all the required info (name, d.o.b., time of test, result, lab name) but does not explicitly say PCR. It does say Day 2 test, which means it has to be PCR, but I wouldn't want to trust check in agents etc. to go for it. I can only assume at the moment the Day 8 test result will have the same information. Any opinion -- is this not good enough ?
Edit - a report on Dante Labs performance. It was Ł84, which was as good as I could find, having weeded out the dross that say Ł55 but then turn out to be for one test only. The package with both tests arrived at home early on Day 1. I put the test in the post that same morning, and I have the result this afternoon, Day 3.
Jul 1, 2021, 1:02 pm
#9004
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Gold, Accor Live Limitless Gold, Hilton Honours Gold, Avis Preferred Plus
Posts: 1,807
It is time for my weekly posting of the week's risk assessment data for arrivals into the UK.
Last week's table can be found here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/33353612-post8819.html
The UK's infection rate continues its upward trajectory and the test positivity is starting to become quite high (only 6 countries on the table have a higher test positivity). On the other hand, the performance in terms of vaccination rate continues to be impressive. Notice that in my original table on 21-May, the US and UK vaccination figures were 83.54 and 86.16 respectively, showing how much of a lead the UK has managed to gain over the US in the past 6 weeks. I also don't think that it will be long until the UK overtakes Israel and Jerusalem if we continue at this rate.
It is notable that this week, nearly half of all countries on the list have experienced an increase in infection rate - I cannot be sure but my inclination is that this is the result of the delta variant starting to rear its ugly head.
My list of well performing and potential Green list countries remains the same as last week (minus Malta which finally got its well deserved promotion).
- Austria
- Czech republic
- Denmark
- Luxembourg
Are the thresholds in the table still looking well calibrated? [note that I am missing data for a lot of the smaller countries, this is especially true for the testing rate (and thus the positivity rate)]
- Infection rate: All of the Green list countries for which I have data apart from Gibraltar and the British Virgin Islands have an infection rate of < 50 new cases per 100k over the past 7 days. Excluding Gibraltar (74.2) and the British Virgin Islands (59.53), the highest infection rate for a Green list country is 16.36 (Israel and Jerusalem)
- Positivity rate: All of the Green list countries for which I have data have a positivity rate of < 1%. The highest positivity rate for a Green list country is 0.502% (Israel and Jerusalem)
- Testing rate: None of the Green list countries for which I have data have a testing rate of > 100 new tests per 1000 over the past 7 days. The highest test rate for a Green list country is 66.32 (Singapore) and the lowest is 8.22 (New Zealand)
- Vaccination coverage: Vaccination coverage is the most mixed amongst all Green list countries for which I have data, approx. 50% of countries on the list have a vaccination coverage of > 100. The highest vaccination coverage is Gibraltar (231.78 thanks to vaccinating Spanish residents who work in Gibraltar as well) and the lowest is Brunei (18.18)
- Sequencing is much more difficult to look at so I will not discuss this.
- Traveller positivity: All of the Green list countries for which I have data have a test positivity indicated with an asterisk (*) thus implying that the numbers are too low to show publicly (<3)
From this analysis, it looks that it is rather unlikely for a country to be promoted to the Green list without a test positivity of less than or equal to 1%. This is likely what is holding the USA back (alongside the usual caveat that politics overshadows everything).
Potential red list countries are: Kuwait, Fiji and Cuba.
Last week's table can be found here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/33353612-post8819.html
The UK's infection rate continues its upward trajectory and the test positivity is starting to become quite high (only 6 countries on the table have a higher test positivity). On the other hand, the performance in terms of vaccination rate continues to be impressive. Notice that in my original table on 21-May, the US and UK vaccination figures were 83.54 and 86.16 respectively, showing how much of a lead the UK has managed to gain over the US in the past 6 weeks. I also don't think that it will be long until the UK overtakes Israel and Jerusalem if we continue at this rate.
It is notable that this week, nearly half of all countries on the list have experienced an increase in infection rate - I cannot be sure but my inclination is that this is the result of the delta variant starting to rear its ugly head.
My list of well performing and potential Green list countries remains the same as last week (minus Malta which finally got its well deserved promotion).
- Austria
- Czech republic
- Denmark
- Luxembourg
Are the thresholds in the table still looking well calibrated? [note that I am missing data for a lot of the smaller countries, this is especially true for the testing rate (and thus the positivity rate)]
- Infection rate: All of the Green list countries for which I have data apart from Gibraltar and the British Virgin Islands have an infection rate of < 50 new cases per 100k over the past 7 days. Excluding Gibraltar (74.2) and the British Virgin Islands (59.53), the highest infection rate for a Green list country is 16.36 (Israel and Jerusalem)
- Positivity rate: All of the Green list countries for which I have data have a positivity rate of < 1%. The highest positivity rate for a Green list country is 0.502% (Israel and Jerusalem)
- Testing rate: None of the Green list countries for which I have data have a testing rate of > 100 new tests per 1000 over the past 7 days. The highest test rate for a Green list country is 66.32 (Singapore) and the lowest is 8.22 (New Zealand)
- Vaccination coverage: Vaccination coverage is the most mixed amongst all Green list countries for which I have data, approx. 50% of countries on the list have a vaccination coverage of > 100. The highest vaccination coverage is Gibraltar (231.78 thanks to vaccinating Spanish residents who work in Gibraltar as well) and the lowest is Brunei (18.18)
- Sequencing is much more difficult to look at so I will not discuss this.
- Traveller positivity: All of the Green list countries for which I have data have a test positivity indicated with an asterisk (*) thus implying that the numbers are too low to show publicly (<3)
From this analysis, it looks that it is rather unlikely for a country to be promoted to the Green list without a test positivity of less than or equal to 1%. This is likely what is holding the USA back (alongside the usual caveat that politics overshadows everything).
Potential red list countries are: Kuwait, Fiji and Cuba.
Jul 1, 2021, 2:18 pm
#9005
Join Date: Jan 2018
Programs: BA Gold, Sixt Platinum
Posts: 318
Thank you wilsnunn for these interesting insights!
I’m a bit concerned about the inputs into the “new tests” column (and indeed if that would be a decisive factor for the Government’s green listing decisions).
In Germany for example, the whole PCR testing process (=business) is extremely decentralised and the aggregation of capacity and tests conducted is difficult and patchy. The figures in your tables suggest that almost every country does more (PCR, I assume?) tests per capita than Germany, which is not the case.
PCR testing and variant surveillance in Germany is (now) leading in Europe, which again shows what total nonsense this green list is. At least Mallorca made the cut......
I’m a bit concerned about the inputs into the “new tests” column (and indeed if that would be a decisive factor for the Government’s green listing decisions).
In Germany for example, the whole PCR testing process (=business) is extremely decentralised and the aggregation of capacity and tests conducted is difficult and patchy. The figures in your tables suggest that almost every country does more (PCR, I assume?) tests per capita than Germany, which is not the case.
PCR testing and variant surveillance in Germany is (now) leading in Europe, which again shows what total nonsense this green list is. At least Mallorca made the cut......
Jul 1, 2021, 2:35 pm
#9006
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Barcelona, London, on a plane
Programs: BA Silver, TK E+, AA PP, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 13,054
I tried to make an effort to read this thread but wow... Gov.uk is similar, so I'll just ask a quick question of the experts...
Is there any practical difference in testing, PLF, etc. between:
Is there any practical difference in testing, PLF, etc. between:
- Airside transit from current Amber country
- Going landside for a night at hotel near LHR before continuing the next morning (outside CTA)
Jul 1, 2021, 4:01 pm
#9008
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Exec Club, SIA KrisFlyer, Qantas FF, Emirates Skywards
Posts: 1,850
What about Italy, Germany and Switzerland? Surely they all have have likelihood of going green?
Last edited by NewbieRunner; Jul 3, 2021 at 12:50 am Reason: Removed image and long text from quoted post.
Jul 1, 2021, 4:19 pm
#9009
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Gold, Accor Live Limitless Gold, Hilton Honours Gold, Avis Preferred Plus
Posts: 1,807
Thank you wilsnunn for these interesting insights!
I’m a bit concerned about the inputs into the “new tests” column (and indeed if that would be a decisive factor for the Government’s green listing decisions).
In Germany for example, the whole PCR testing process (=business) is extremely decentralised and the aggregation of capacity and tests conducted is difficult and patchy. The figures in your tables suggest that almost every country does more (PCR, I assume?) tests per capita than Germany, which is not the case.
PCR testing and variant surveillance in Germany is (now) leading in Europe, which again shows what total nonsense this green list is. At least Mallorca made the cut......
I’m a bit concerned about the inputs into the “new tests” column (and indeed if that would be a decisive factor for the Government’s green listing decisions).
In Germany for example, the whole PCR testing process (=business) is extremely decentralised and the aggregation of capacity and tests conducted is difficult and patchy. The figures in your tables suggest that almost every country does more (PCR, I assume?) tests per capita than Germany, which is not the case.
PCR testing and variant surveillance in Germany is (now) leading in Europe, which again shows what total nonsense this green list is. At least Mallorca made the cut......
It looks to me to have a relatively chance from the infection rate and test positivity but the number of tests may need to be higher (going against what I have just said above), i.e. in New Zealand where testing is is at similar levels (according to this dataset) their test positivity is 0.043% which is basically 0.
See my comment above about testing rates. We also have to remember that this risk assessment is just one part of it, the (likely bigger part!) is the political side of things.
Last edited by NewbieRunner; Jul 3, 2021 at 4:58 am Reason: Merge consecutive posts by same member
Jul 1, 2021, 4:41 pm
#9010
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: UK
Programs: BAEC Gold, IHG Spire Ambassador
Posts: 42
Left a red list country before 4am on 30th June - do I avoid quarantine
We got the news about the additions to the Red LIst just after we landed. I looked at the statutory instrument and it seemed to say that as long as we flew out of the country before 4am on 30th, we would be OK as the country was Amber when we left.
We will now spend a week in Portugal before returning to the UK, but when I did a trial run on the Passenger Locator Form, it asks if you have been in any other countries apart from Portugal in the last 10 days. As soon as you enter the name of a newly red list country, it demands the invoice number for a quarantine package. There is no opportunity to say that all countries visited in the last 10 days were Amber for the entire time we were there.
So the question is whether I need to stay in Portugal for another few days, or is there a way to explain why quarantine is not needed, just self isolation.
For info, I am double vaccinated for over a month, and this started as a business trip.
We will now spend a week in Portugal before returning to the UK, but when I did a trial run on the Passenger Locator Form, it asks if you have been in any other countries apart from Portugal in the last 10 days. As soon as you enter the name of a newly red list country, it demands the invoice number for a quarantine package. There is no opportunity to say that all countries visited in the last 10 days were Amber for the entire time we were there.
So the question is whether I need to stay in Portugal for another few days, or is there a way to explain why quarantine is not needed, just self isolation.
For info, I am double vaccinated for over a month, and this started as a business trip.
Jul 1, 2021, 4:53 pm
#9011
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 43,008
We got the news about the additions to the Red LIst just after we landed. I looked at the statutory instrument and it seemed to say that as long as we flew out of the country before 4am on 30th, we would be OK as the country was Amber when we left.
We will now spend a week in Portugal before returning to the UK, but when I did a trial run on the Passenger Locator Form, it asks if you have been in any other countries apart from Portugal in the last 10 days. As soon as you enter the name of a newly red list country, it demands the invoice number for a quarantine package. There is no opportunity to say that all countries visited in the last 10 days were Amber for the entire time we were there.
So the question is whether I need to stay in Portugal for another few days, or is there a way to explain why quarantine is not needed, just self isolation.
For info, I am double vaccinated for over a month, and this started as a business trip.
We will now spend a week in Portugal before returning to the UK, but when I did a trial run on the Passenger Locator Form, it asks if you have been in any other countries apart from Portugal in the last 10 days. As soon as you enter the name of a newly red list country, it demands the invoice number for a quarantine package. There is no opportunity to say that all countries visited in the last 10 days were Amber for the entire time we were there.
So the question is whether I need to stay in Portugal for another few days, or is there a way to explain why quarantine is not needed, just self isolation.
For info, I am double vaccinated for over a month, and this started as a business trip.
So to answer your questions, I would agree you should spend a few more days in Portugal to take it up to 10 days there, and then you can fly to the UK on day 11 and be treated as an amber arrival.
I am afraid your vaccination status is irrelevant atm for entry requirements in the UK.
Jul 1, 2021, 5:11 pm
#9012
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: UK
Programs: BAEC Gold, IHG Spire Ambassador
Posts: 42
Ouch - that means we were stuffed the moment we set foot on the plane at LHR - as the Red list rule kicked in 7 days later.
Still it is nice here in the Algarve.
And many thanks for the fast reply, so late at night.
By the way, when does the clock start counting on the 10 days. Is it 10*24 hours after you left the red country?
So if we left the red country on 29th June at 10pm local time (which is 3 am on 30th June London time), when can we fly back to the UK from Portugal? Is it 10th July or 11th July?
Still it is nice here in the Algarve.
And many thanks for the fast reply, so late at night.
By the way, when does the clock start counting on the 10 days. Is it 10*24 hours after you left the red country?
So if we left the red country on 29th June at 10pm local time (which is 3 am on 30th June London time), when can we fly back to the UK from Portugal? Is it 10th July or 11th July?
Last edited by NewbieRunner; Jul 3, 2021 at 4:55 am Reason: Merge consecutive posts by same member
Jul 1, 2021, 7:11 pm
#9013
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 43,008
By the way, when does the clock start counting on the 10 days. Is it 10*24 hours after you left the red country?
So if we left the red country on 29th June at 10pm local time (which is 3 am on 30th June London time), when can we fly back to the UK from Portugal? Is it 10th July or 11th July?
So if we left the red country on 29th June at 10pm local time (which is 3 am on 30th June London time), when can we fly back to the UK from Portugal? Is it 10th July or 11th July?
It therefore sounds like you need to arrive in the UK on 10 July or later.
Jul 1, 2021, 11:48 pm
#9014
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 7,241
The 24/06 numbers used by HMG for the RAG list have been revisited and Robert Boyle has been re-crunching them.
Full article here:
https://www.gridpoint.consulting/blo...data-revisited
And here's the key points:
https://www.gridpoint.consulting/blo...data-revisited
Full article here:
https://www.gridpoint.consulting/blo...data-revisited
And here's the key points:
The number of unknowns looks even more embarrassing. The big change is the volume of tests carried out on amber routes. The testing programme is now shown to have been detecting eight times as many positive cases, but the positivity rate hasn’t changed.
[...]
The old stats implied that 38% of positive test results were sequenced. Whilst the number of positive tests has gone up with the revisions, the number of cases sequenced has barely changed. So the proportion of postitive tests sequenced is now only 17%.
[...]
40% of positive tests from red list countries were sequenced, whilst only 2.7% of those from amber list countries were. There were no positive test results from green list countries and therefore nothing to sequence.
[...]
The revised figures show that 200,000 people arriving from green and amber list countries over this three-week period had to take and pay for PCR tests after arrival. The main justification given by the government for the need for these tests is to allow them to do genomic sequencing of arrivals into the UK, in order to spot variants of concern. In fact, only 20 of these samples were sent for sequencing and no variants of concern were detected.
[...]
Which countries were responsible for the most positive arrivals tests? Before, the top three were India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. That has changed a bit, with Portugal now making into number two spot. The test positivity for Portugal has fallen considerably though. Before the data was revised, the rate was 1.1% and it is now only 0.3%.
[...]
The old stats implied that 38% of positive test results were sequenced. Whilst the number of positive tests has gone up with the revisions, the number of cases sequenced has barely changed. So the proportion of postitive tests sequenced is now only 17%.
[...]
40% of positive tests from red list countries were sequenced, whilst only 2.7% of those from amber list countries were. There were no positive test results from green list countries and therefore nothing to sequence.
[...]
The revised figures show that 200,000 people arriving from green and amber list countries over this three-week period had to take and pay for PCR tests after arrival. The main justification given by the government for the need for these tests is to allow them to do genomic sequencing of arrivals into the UK, in order to spot variants of concern. In fact, only 20 of these samples were sent for sequencing and no variants of concern were detected.
[...]
Which countries were responsible for the most positive arrivals tests? Before, the top three were India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. That has changed a bit, with Portugal now making into number two spot. The test positivity for Portugal has fallen considerably though. Before the data was revised, the rate was 1.1% and it is now only 0.3%.
Jul 2, 2021, 1:55 am
#9015
Join Date: Dec 2020
Posts: 10
What time after landing/arrival are you supposed to take the Day 2 / 8 tests?
I understand arrival day is counted as Day 0.
If arrival is at 13:55 on Monday does that mean take day 2 “on or before” 13:55 on Wednesday? And Day 8 after 13:55 the following Tuesday?
I understand arrival day is counted as Day 0.
If arrival is at 13:55 on Monday does that mean take day 2 “on or before” 13:55 on Wednesday? And Day 8 after 13:55 the following Tuesday?