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, £160, but same package sold directly bu Source Bioscience is just £120. 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 £18.99. 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]
Jan 22, 2022, 3:42 am
Join Date: Sep 2006
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I doubt it will be accepted in the near future, we are guided by the WHO and Sputnik V is only at first base at the moment. To give an illustration, COVAXIN, the India vaccine which has been around a shorter time than Sputnik V, has gone through all the processes at the WHO end and was recently added to the UK list of accepted vaccines.
https://extranet.who.int/pqweb/key-r...uation-process
https://extranet.who.int/pqweb/key-r...uation-process
Jan 22, 2022, 6:42 am
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I disagree. No industrialised country would normally just rely on guidance from the WHO to approve vaccines or other medicines for use on their own territory. They would have their own regulatory authority evaluating the clinical trials and other evidence submitted by the pharmaceutical company rather than just relying on the WHO. It is precisely in relation to travelers vaccinated elsewhere in the world, where different vaccines might be prevalent, that accepting vaccines which are not authorised by their own regulatory authority but recognised by an international authority like the WHO might make sense.
Jan 22, 2022, 7:08 am
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I must admit I did miull over putting Germany into italics along with Poland several weeks ago. If you look at Germany's death rate compared to those infected you would never go near a German hospital. But essentially Germany's death rate is currently about half of the UK, so winding back say 2 weeks on infection numbers it suggests if you multiply the German rate by about 3 or 4 you probably have a comparison line with other European countries. If the positivity rate is about 3 times the UK then that fits in quite well. The comparisons are still a bit skewed by Christmas and in all cases we are not seeing a totality of infection, but hopefully a near totality of symptomatic infection and a chunk of asymptomatic infection. Some places like France there is an argument to bring their figures down a bit since their death rate is consistently much lower than infection rates would suggest, though there are other factors involved. Denmark is also over represented somewhat, they test a lot and their positivity rate is well below the European average.
Jan 22, 2022, 8:30 am
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Being guided by the WHO makes sense for approving (or not) a vaccine for use, but for assessing the riisk of inbound travellers, I would have thought (especially given the UK government's current COVID strategy) they only needed to look at efficacy data from countries using that vaccine along with Pfizer/AZ etc.
I disagree. No industrialised country would normally just rely on guidance from the WHO to approve vaccines or other medicines for use on their own territory. They would have their own regulatory authority evaluating the clinical trials and other evidence submitted by the pharmaceutical company rather than just relying on the WHO. It is precisely in relation to travelers vaccinated elsewhere in the world, where different vaccines might be prevalent, that accepting vaccines which are not authorised by their own regulatory authority but recognised by an international authority like the WHO might make sense.
Jan 22, 2022, 9:34 am
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Jan 22, 2022, 9:52 am
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TSE seemed to suggest that it should be enough for a vaccine to be WHO-approved for a country to accept it to vaccinate people on its territory. I can't think of a major industrialised country in which a medicine, including a vaccine, would normally be accepted for use without the medicine having been approved for use by the relevant national (or supranational in the case of the EU) regulatory authority.
Jan 22, 2022, 10:53 am
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Yes, that is my point: we will accept as vaccinated for travel regulations purposes somebody who has received the full course for a WHO approved vaccine. However, if you want to be vaccinated in the UK, it would have to be a MHRA-approved vaccine rather than a WHO-approved vaccine.
TSE seemed to suggest that it should be enough for a vaccine to be WHO-approved for a country to accept it to vaccinate people on its territory. I can't think of a major industrialised country in which a medicine, including a vaccine, would normally be accepted for use without the medicine having been approved for use by the relevant national (or supranational in the case of the EU) regulatory authority.
TSE seemed to suggest that it should be enough for a vaccine to be WHO-approved for a country to accept it to vaccinate people on its territory. I can't think of a major industrialised country in which a medicine, including a vaccine, would normally be accepted for use without the medicine having been approved for use by the relevant national (or supranational in the case of the EU) regulatory authority.
Jan 22, 2022, 12:31 pm
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No, this is absolutely not what I was suggesting. My main point was on allowing, for example, people who have been triple-jabbed with Sputnik V, to enter the UK under the same conditions as those with currently approved vaccines IF independent vaccine efficacy data supported this. Approving the vaccines for actual use in the UK is an entirely separate issue, which I agree should follow a far more rigorous procedure. I would expect guidance from the WHO as part of the procedure but not for the MHRA to blindly accept their findings without carrying out their own comprehensive approval process.
But NickB is correct, HMG has a range of vaccines that it has approved, including J&J which has hardly ever been used in the UK. It could decide to recognise only UK vaccines, which was the situation for a while. But then a policy decision was made to allow a range of other vaccines, including vaccines such as COVAXIN. How is that to be decided? Here are some options
1) those recognised by friendly regulators such as EMA (which still has influence in Northern Ireland) and the FDA. Issue: who is your friend? And who gets miffed if they don't get an invite?
2) use the WHO's list since it has a due diligence process which was specifically intended for this process. Plus we pay loads of money to the WHO so we better get something back. Issue: they are pretty methodical, and some may say slow.
3) develop a secondary screening and research programme within the UK for vaccines like Sputnik and if the data looks good we accept them. Issue: option 2 does the same, is cheaper and saves the effort.
You are Matt Hancock, you have many other things on your mind, what do you do?
Jan 22, 2022, 12:45 pm
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Ah, ok. This is how I understood your statement that "Being guided by the WHO makes sense for approving (or not) a vaccine for use." I now see what you mean from your later post. However, if a national regulatory authority like the MHRA is going to review the evidence itself, whether or not the vaccine has been approved by the WHO will be of marginal relevance. Sure, whatever studies they publish will be part of the literature review but this is not on this that the decision whether or not to authorise the vaccine will be based.
Jan 23, 2022, 9:48 am
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Is the wiki fully updated? I ask as I see Boris has lifted all restrictions now for fully vaccinated travelers, or is this not accurate? I still need to complete a PLF when I enter the UK and take a rapid take home test by day 2? Is it required on the PLF to acknowledge where I have purchased this test?
ETA strikethrough above lol
ETA strikethrough above lol
Last edited by enviroian; Jan 24, 2022 at 8:35 am
Jan 23, 2022, 9:54 am
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
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Is the wiki fully updated? I ask as I see Boris has lifted all restrictions now for fully vaccinated travelers, or is this not accurate? I still need to complete a PLF when I enter the UK and take a rapid take home test by day 2? Is it required on the PLF to acknowledge where I have purchased this test?
Jan 23, 2022, 10:24 am
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Is the wiki fully updated? I ask as I see Boris has lifted all restrictions now for fully vaccinated travelers, or is this not accurate? I still need to complete a PLF when I enter the UK and take a rapid take home test by day 2? Is it required on the PLF to acknowledge where I have purchased this test?
They no longer need to take a PCR test but must self-isolate for at least full 5 days and may stop self-isolating on day 6 of their self-isolation period if they take rapid lateral flow tests on days 5 and 6, and:
- both test results are negative
- the tests are taken at least 24 hours apart
- they do not have a high temperature
Jan 23, 2022, 10:28 am
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Removal of restrictions in England does not affect travellers from outside the CTA as far as I can see. The only recent change to the rules appears to be for fully-vaccinated people who test positive in their day 2 test.
They no longer need to take a PCR test but must self-isolate for at least full 5 days and may stop self-isolating on day 6 of their self-isolation period if they take rapid lateral flow tests on days 5 and 6, and:
They no longer need to take a PCR test but must self-isolate for at least full 5 days and may stop self-isolating on day 6 of their self-isolation period if they take rapid lateral flow tests on days 5 and 6, and:
- both test results are negative
- the tests are taken at least 24 hours apart
- they do not have a high temperature
Jan 24, 2022, 5:44 am
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There's a breaking piece on the Sky news website saying BoJo has announced it, but no date is given yet.
Jan 24, 2022, 6:12 am
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 710
BBC News - Covid travel tests to be axed in England for double vaccinated
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60109945
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60109945