LONDON (UK) – The government announced on Friday that those who enter England will have to present a negative COVID-19 test result when they arrive to protect against the new mutant version of the virus from other nations.
Those who arrive in England by boat, aircraft or train have to take a test up to 72 hours before departing for Britain, said the transport ministry, which is emulating measures taken by many other nations around the globe.
“We already have significant measures in place to prevent imported cases of COVID-19, but with new strains of the virus developing internationally we must take further precautions,” said Transport Secretary Grant Shapps in a statement.
This week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered England to be placed under a new lockdown following a surge in the number of infections linked to the new variant of the coronavirus said to have originated in the country.
A day earlier, Britain said it would extend its prohibition on travellers from South African to other southern African nations to curb the spread of a variant of the virus identified in South Africa.
However, hauliers, children under 11, crew and people travelling from nations where tests are unavailable have been exempted, said the government.
Travellers will have to pay a fine of 500 pounds ($678.30) in case they fail to comply with the new norms.
The airline sector in the country said it was aware of the need to introduce pre-departure testing but only as a short-term, emergency step.
“Once the roll-out of the vaccine accelerates, the focus must be on returning travel to normal as quickly as possible in order to support the UK’s economic recovery,” said Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, an industry group.
As per the rules in the country, travellers from many nations have to undergo self-isolation for 10 days or five if they pay for a private screening and test negative. Those requirements will remain in place after the new pre-departure testing norm kicks in.
Westminster is working closely with the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to introduce similar measures.
However, the new rule would not be applicable to the Common Travel Area which includes England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland as well as the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.