PCR tests could be scrapped at next traffic light review
inews.co.uk/news/travel-pcr-tests-scrapped-tr...
inews.co.ukPosted Sep 12, 2021, 6:30 AM UTC
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inews.co.ukI really hope so. Holidays are going to be a lot more expensive as it is, nevermind the cost of the PCR tests on top of it.
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why more expensive? I've just been on holiday and everything is significantly cheaper because less people are travelling, each hotel upgrades you to a nicer room and throws in a bunch of extras and discounts.
Maybe when COVID is completely gone it'll catch up but that's not going to be anytime soon.
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Nah stuff is cheaper now
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Finally seeing sense like most other countries that do this and haven't imploded yet.
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Which countries are you thinking of?
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Well the obvious one is majority of the EU which allow double vaccinated to travel without testing...
Doesn't look like travel is causing any issues for them
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The EU is just highlighting the benefits of being in the EU with the principle of unrestricted travel between member states. The uk decided we don’t want that of course. The EU has restrictions with third party countries though.
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Not true. Off the top of my head countries such as Spain, France, Greece, Turkey, Mexico and so on so forth do not require fully vaccinated travellers to take tests to enter.
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Not true; vaccinated people travelling from green or amber countries (including non-EU countries) do not need to have a negative test to enter France.
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Currently, fully vaccinated passengers arriving to the UK from green and amber list countries must take a PCR test before coming to the UK and another test within two days of entering the country. If the results are negative, there is no need to isolate.
Isn’t this wrong? I thought it was LFT before coming to the UK and PCR on day 2?
Also they say about a certain percentage of tests being sent off for sequencing but if everyone did LFTs couldn’t they then be told they must do an NHS PCR if the private LFT is positive? Given that would enrich the testing sample to just those likely to be positive it shouldn’t be a huge extra number of tests and would still put the initial testing burden on the traveller (which seems to be something the government are keen to do, and I am not trying to start a debate on this point right now).
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Yeah your first part is right, it can be a rapid antigen pre-UK and a PCR on day 2 on arrival.
However with your second part, if they had a private positive result on an LFT, they wouldn’t have been able to get on the flight to the UK anyway so you couldn’t get them to do an NHS PCR.
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Sorry should have been clear - I was referring to the day 2 PCR, which is the only one required to be a PCR at present and the only one the UK government could send away for variant analysis.
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Ah I get you.
Tbh I don’t know how much follow up there is with this day 2 PCR as it is? I was meant to go on holiday last month and ordered my private PCR for arrival back. Well turns out I didn’t end up leaving the UK but couldnt get a refund for my arrival PCR. So I took the test anyway and sent it away, but I never felt like it was something I was going to be chased for? Maybe people are i’m not sure.
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I assume the chasing is related to filling out the travel forms, so if you didn’t travel then you wouldn’t need to be chased.
I’m currently holding off on booking a test because I need to book one for a family member but they are travelling after 1st Oct and I don’t want to pay for it if they scrap the system!
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As far as I'm aware there is no follow up with the Day 2 PCR's (if there is, it must be a miniscule amount. I haven't heard of anyone getting contacted regarding the result). There's no requirement to formally submit the result anywhere either, so in practice you'd get away with not even doing it. You only need to prove that you've ordered one for the passenger locator form when flying back to the UK.
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I guess I should have held off on buying my tests for my trip to Greece. I depart in a week and return early October. 70 quid down the drain for doing the right thing if they do scrap testing requirements.
That said, I'll be glad if these rules change. Might encourage me to book another holiday for October as I'll still have a week of annual leave to use after this trip.
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Can go as low as 43 from randox or 50 from testingforall, fyi
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Yeah I bought a Randox test. But you also need a test to return and the cheapest I could find was about 26 quid. Hence 70.
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pre PCR test with a day 2 is £86 from Randox
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It's cheaper to book a pre-departure antigen test with another company. You don't need a PCR to return.
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I'm going to Canada this week and back on the 29th. Seems like I may get back a few days too soon but will definitely be doing more travel this fall if the change goes ahead.
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Makes sense as only 5% of the PCRs are sequenced for variants anyway.
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100% of the viable samples are sequenced.
The issue is that 95% are not viable for sequencing, but then that doesn’t help the argument for keeping Day 2 tests either.
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When is the next review?
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15th or 16th of this month
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I'm seeing my gf next week, we haven't seen each other for over a year now and she is only coming down for 2 days. So either way we have to get a 2nd day test just for a reference number to put on the passenger locator form, even tho she leaves on the 2nd day. Its fucking crazy, I also called up a goverment recommended pcr test site they said the same thing.
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The word "Travel" is sorely needed in the title!
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I think the government is in a difficult position of trying to appease the travel industry execs and their buddies who have stock in the private cowboy testing companies. Best we can hope for is no or reduced testing on return.
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The lack of test result checking at immigration makes it better to not have any tests at all from a practical point if view. People have told me they glance at the test paper and give it back or in the e-checking their don't even ask for the test result which is a joke got a country like the UK which prides themselves in proper regulation.
They don't need to check test results at immigration because it's all handled by the airline pre-departure. If you can't show a negative test result at check-in then you won't be allowed on the plane.
Yeah this was my experience, the airline staff were very strict about checking the pre-departure test result, to the point where they nearly didn't let me on the plane because they deemed my test insufficient (it was a Chronomics antigen test, they took issue with that fact it was taken unsupervised), luckily I managed to argue the toss and they let me on. Interestingly though, they barely gave more than a glance at the Passenger Locator form (including the Day 2 test booking), presumably because there is no way of checking the reference number anyway. On the UK side when I returned there were no checks whatsoever, which is a stark contrast compared to the Spain side where my health declaration form and vaccination certificate were scrutinised carefully on arrival (and also checked before departure from the UK)
Out of interest which city and airline was this? I’ve been using the Chronomics tests several times with no issues, but would be good to know who doesn’t accept them. Thanks!
Ryanair at an airport in mainland Spain (don't want to give the exact city for privacy reasons) - I'm not saying this is a policy across the board by the way, I think that particular member of staff just took issue with us on that day, it wasn't until we argued our case to another member of staff that they let us on. Your experience may differ, but personally I wouldn't use them again as I'm not comfortable with that level of risk
The locator form can be checked digitally as they're submitted online
I got a little lucky. I didn't check the parameters of my preflight test until I got to the UK and discovered the specificity was 0.4% lower than the required 97%. The test was checked twice by the airlines (internal flight and transatlantic) but the shortfall wasn't spotted, and they didn't check at all at Heathrow.
Not worth taking the chance of being refused boarding, so it's worth double checking the test meets the standard, especially if it's a rapid antigen test. Quite a few aren't adequate.
I assume this is the CVS rapid test? On r/uktravel plenty of people have used this test. I would imagine the check in folks overseas are looking for “Covid” and “negative” and not particularly bothered by the fact it is slightly off.
When I left the UK in mid-July we were delayed by an hour because the front desk staff screwed up and let a family on who did not have the right tests to enter Canada. So I am sure they take it real seriously. In Canada you have to see a border agent. No e-gates unless you're a Nexus Card holder (US-Canada), which require a background check to get in the first place.
This is exactly my experience. Thorough checks at the departing airport and nothing on arrival. Considering the queues on arrival I can't see them having capacity to do extensive checks.
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That's assuming you have checked luggage. No one checked my aunties when we were coming back from Spain since she didn't have checked luggage. We also flew with BA as well
They have checked my results in Paris before coming back.
Sorry I should have explained my point a bit better. If the checks are gonna be half arsed then there shouldn't be checks basically. Also costs a lot as well. When I found out I I checked and my aunty didn't all I could think of was why the fudge did I spend £120 in the first place
I’ve flown BA and everyone who went through security without stopping to collect a boarding pass or drop bags was called forward at the gate and checked manually there.
Yeah, BA has 2 checkpoints. In most cases, if you have a paper boarding pass then you’ve already had the documents verified at the check in desk. If you did OLCI and haven’t got any bags to check-in, the gate staff should verify the documents instead.
WizzAir, as an example airline, have changed it now that you have to get a boarding pass at the airport regardless of if you do online check-in or are checked-in-luggage-less. Your mileage may vary per airline but it seems they're all catching up bit by bit to manage this requirement.
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I had no checked luggage coming back from Malta. They made me queue up anyway to get my documents checked and I got a tiny piece of paper confirming it was ok. Luckily I kept it as they asked for it at the gate
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It really depends where you're flying from. In Amsterdam it wasn't checked.
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They didnt even check my PLF at the airport just my passport.
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The people you know should report those who aren't checking the results. Sure, we could all complain, but it's our duty to protect each other on this one.
I recently flew SFO-LHR and they were very strict on checking both the test result and locator form; both at SFO and LHR. We didn’t have any issues, but they did definitely read and parse our documents rather than just skimming them.
We do? Because hoo boy..
If only we’d took back control of our borders