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]
May 3, 2020, 9:01 am
#46
Join Date: Apr 2020
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 232
Too late and it's nothing but pandering to the court of public opinion.
The world is beginning to look like it may open up again, and the UK is about to go the other way. It's almost like the government want to destroy what's left of the aviation industry
The world is beginning to look like it may open up again, and the UK is about to go the other way. It's almost like the government want to destroy what's left of the aviation industry
May 3, 2020, 9:01 am
#47
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[UK Transport Secretary] Grant Shapps said he is "actively looking" at quarantining people entering the UK once travel restrictions are lifted in order to prevent any further spread of coronavirus.
The transport secretary added the decision to not do this earlier was backed by the scientific advice at the time and allowed millions of people to return home and be with their families.
The transport secretary added the decision to not do this earlier was backed by the scientific advice at the time and allowed millions of people to return home and be with their families.
May 3, 2020, 9:03 am
#48
Join Date: Dec 2009
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Sadly not just the UK, as France is now going to impose a 14-day quarantine on any arrivals as part of its opening up plan from 11 May onwards...
May 6, 2020, 4:09 pm
#49
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May 8, 2020, 5:40 pm
#50
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This is closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. Pure populism. And hypocritical too after allowing mass gatherings for so long into the pandemic, even welcoming thousands of Real Madrid football fans to the UK while Spain was going into lockdown.
I would expect it to be far more likely that travellers from the UK and other high risk countries are quarantined when entering lower risk countries.
I would expect it to be far more likely that travellers from the UK and other high risk countries are quarantined when entering lower risk countries.
May 8, 2020, 7:30 pm
#51
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To update the thread, news sources are now reporting that a quarantine on arriving travellers in the UK is expected to be announced by the government this coming Sunday 8th May, and is expected to be brought into force at the end of May. Here are links to two such news stories:
UK 'to bring in 14-day quarantine for air passengers'
Coronavirus: Holidays at risk as Boris Johnson set to announce 14 day quarantine for travellers arriving in UK
A conference call with airline executives about the new policy is expected this(Saturday) morning [Sunday morning], so hopefully more details will emerge afterwards. Will be interesting to see if the reporting is accurate, and if so, what the details are.
UK 'to bring in 14-day quarantine for air passengers'
Coronavirus: Holidays at risk as Boris Johnson set to announce 14 day quarantine for travellers arriving in UK
A conference call with airline executives about the new policy is expected this
Last edited by ExpatExp; May 9, 2020 at 8:56 am Reason: News sources changed their reporting of the expected conference call date.
May 8, 2020, 7:35 pm
#52
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If they announce a quarantine on May 8th and it's not effective until the end of May, what's the point? It will be too late to be effective and everyone will rush to get in before the deadline.
May 8, 2020, 8:02 pm
#53
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You pose a good question, MSPeconomist. Perhaps it has to do with when they expect incoming passengers to have a greater risk of infection than the UK population in which they are arriving, but I don't know if that is a scientific perspective or not.
Some ideas from other threads:
Perhaps the objective is simply to decrease the number of travellers. For example, Hawaii's quarantine restrictions were announced in advance, and the result was a 98% decrease in arriving passengers, despite a small uptick before the restrictions took effect -- a seriously significant result. I am not attempting to draw any parallel with the UK, as I don't believe the two island groups are directly comparable. However, on the singular basis of reducing passenger numbers, it provides some insight.
If the UK were to take a similar approach, then I agree that there would likely be an increase in traveller numbers before the restrictions begin, but afterwards I would imagine that numbers would be very low indeed.
Some ideas from other threads:
At the peak of the outbreak, the U.K. was shutdown, roughly around the 14-18th March, so anyone arriving would have had very little freedom to go out or continue as normal. Therefore they were in reality in quarantine on returning. Granted if we had quarantined people returning prior to March, maybe this would have had a better affect.
In all seriousness, with few exceptions, most people can’t fly now anyway. Considering it is self isolation at a private residence it will kill any foreign visitors but assume that if someone resident here had to travel abroad, then they would bite the 14 days of isolation bullet.
If the UK were to take a similar approach, then I agree that there would likely be an increase in traveller numbers before the restrictions begin, but afterwards I would imagine that numbers would be very low indeed.
May 8, 2020, 10:04 pm
#56
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Based on the data, I'm sceptical of a lot of the ways governments are approaching this globally. However, I do appreciate there are some unknowns and there are politics at play here because of the fear which has been installed in the general public. Got to accept reality as it is. But politicians need to be a bit better and show leadership (I know, crazy dream). Don't use a blunt instrument for the sake of it. I would accept 14 day quarantines/travel bans which are actually enforced from genuine disease hotspots. To go to a blanket requirement is simply overzealous and will do more damage than good for our ability to lift ourselves out of the huge (and vastly underappreciated) second order effects of all of this.
May 8, 2020, 10:33 pm
#57
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May 8, 2020, 10:51 pm
#58
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I am beyond staggered that it's taken this government about a month and a half to come to this conclusion.
Hungary, to make but one example, is enforcing quarantine since mid-March if I'm not mistaken. Friends and family who returned home there have been escorted from BUD to their residence, notices have been affixed to their doors telling them not to leave the house and the police are doing their food shopping.
And the UK government wakes up and does it NOW. With 200k+ cases, 30k+ deaths. Stables, doors, horses come to mind.
Hungary, to make but one example, is enforcing quarantine since mid-March if I'm not mistaken. Friends and family who returned home there have been escorted from BUD to their residence, notices have been affixed to their doors telling them not to leave the house and the police are doing their food shopping.
And the UK government wakes up and does it NOW. With 200k+ cases, 30k+ deaths. Stables, doors, horses come to mind.
May 8, 2020, 11:34 pm
#59
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Why even "open" it up for non Europeans then?
Why not just extend the non-EEA resident ban for Schengen that ended the first 30-day period in mid-April?
Entry ban is much simpler than letting people enter and then quarantining them. They have to deal with compliance issues and tracking who has finished their quarantine.
Or do they imagine they can get some form of foreign visitor money by making people quarantine for 2 weeks and then what, go about and spend like it was a normal holiday?
May 8, 2020, 11:53 pm
#60
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Why even "open" it up for non Europeans then?
Why not just extend the non-EEA resident ban for Schengen that ended the first 30-day period in mid-April?
Entry ban is much simpler than letting people enter and then quarantining them. They have to deal with compliance issues and tracking who has finished their quarantine.
Or do they imagine they can get some form of foreign visitor money by making people quarantine for 2 weeks and then what, go about and spend like it was a normal holiday?
Why not just extend the non-EEA resident ban for Schengen that ended the first 30-day period in mid-April?
Entry ban is much simpler than letting people enter and then quarantining them. They have to deal with compliance issues and tracking who has finished their quarantine.
Or do they imagine they can get some form of foreign visitor money by making people quarantine for 2 weeks and then what, go about and spend like it was a normal holiday?
With regards to the UK... No clue as to why they're doing it now or how it'll be enforced. If the current lockdown is anything to go by, upon arrival you'll be told "please self-quarantine" and that will be it. I'm seeing people sunbathing, drinking in the parks, having BBQs, playing frisbee here in London: the police either drives by and says nothing or at best they ask people to disperse.