Covid-19 test no more needed to enter UK, new travel guidelines out

The Covid-19 travel restrictions have now been relaxed by the UK government. After the government dropped one of the remaining limitations imposed in response to COVID-19 during the past two years, vaccinated travellers will be free to enter the UK without having to do any coronavirus tests.

Before travelling to the UK, British residents and visitors who have received at least two doses of an approved coronavirus vaccine merely need to fill out a passenger locator form. Unvaccinated people must still take tests before and after coming, but they are no longer required to self-isolate until a negative result is obtained.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said, "The UK now has one of the most free-flowing borders in the world. Sending a clear message that we are open for business."

After two years of severely restricted travel, airlines and other travel companies hailed the shift as a lifeline.

Andrew Flintham, managing director of travel group Tui UK, said " there was huge pent-up demand for international travel, and people were rushing to book getaways for the February school break and April's Easter holiday."

Gatwick, London's second-busiest airport, said that "it plans next month to reopen the second of its two terminals, shuttered since June 2020." 

Sean Doyle, the CEO of British Airways, advised other countries to adopt Britain's realistic approach.

However, other scientists believe the administration is going too quickly. Most domestic regulations were dropped last month by Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative government.

Face masks are no longer required in most indoor areas in England, and vaccine passports for access to nightclubs and large-scale events, as well as official recommendations to work from home, have been withdrawn.

The majority of limitations have also been lifted in other regions of the UK, including Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

As part of a long-term strategy to live with COVID-19, Johnson said this week that he intends to ease the final limitation, mandatory self-isolation for anyone who test positive, by the end of February.

As the coronavirus becomes common in the country, officials say the government aims to shift from legislative limitations to advisory measures and treat it more like the flu.

Scientists were taken aback by Johnson's announcement. According to Tim Spector, an epidemiologist from Kings College London, "was more a political type of statement rather than a scientific one."

"There is some rationale to this and other countries are doing things similarly, but it's clearly a race for the government to say that Britain is first, Britain is the first to come out of this, Britain has conquered omicron, our booster program is world-beating etc," he told Times Radio.

Despite an omicron-driven downturn at the end of the year, the UK economy grew by a larger-than-expected 7.5 percent in 2021, according to figures.

In December, the reintroduction of some restrictions in reaction to the highly transmissible variety resulted in a 0.2 percent contraction.

The growth follows a 9.4% contraction in 2020, when the epidemic shut down large portions of the economy, according to the Office for National Statistics. The UK economy has recovered to its previous size, which was in February 2020, shortly before the new coronavirus swept the country.