Le United Kingdom Is Boris Johnson's border management becoming a little more pragmatic? Over the last six months, the rules for entering the country have been repeatedly overturned. But this time, the latest provisions adopted by the government seem to be moving in the direction of simplification.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that, from Friday 7 January, the UK is abolishing the requirement for incoming travellers to undergo pre-departure PCR tests. Any traveller who has been fully vaccinated (with a double dose) may enter England and Wales without producing a negative PCR test. L'Northern Ireland and theScotland should soon follow suit.
The only remaining requirement is a rapid antigenic lateral flow test (LFT). -i.e. a self-test - within two days of arrival. Visitors will no longer have to quarantine themselves until they receive their results. However, there is no need for visitors to quarantine themselves until they receive their results, if the result is positive, travellers must undergo a PCR test to help identify "any new variants on the border", as Boris Johnson explained.
This also means that the British government abolishes the obligation to undergo a test before leaving the UK. However, many countries require a PCR test for anyone leaving the UK...
The pre-departure and arrival rules remain unchanged for unvaccinated or partially vaccinated travellers.
Restrictions powerless against Omicron
These measures, announced on Wednesday by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, are justified by the limited impact of such restrictions on the spread of the Omicron variant. As in France, the disease continues to spread rapidly in the UK, with 160,000 to 200,000 positive cases every day.
The lack of effectiveness of the restrictive measures led to a series of criticisms from travel and tourism professionals, who called for a review of the conditions for entering and leaving the UK. They also want stabilisation of the rules to help travellers plan their journeys.
A wish that should be granted, according to the BBC. Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Transporthas declared that there will be " a full review of travel measures by the end of January to ensure that a stable system is in place for 2022" .
The restrictive measures in the face of the Covid pandemic have had a devastating effect on UK air transport in 2021. The country recorded a 71% drop in international flights according to a recent report by aviation data analysis company Cirium. Around 406,060 international flights were operated from the UK in 2021, compared with 1.4 million in 2019.
