UK lifts arrival rules/restrictions

[RooFlyer]

Reported in the Oz on-line (likely pay-walled - check news.com.au )

Last Covid rules scrapped for travel to Britain

Travel into Britain will return to normal this week for the first time in two years after ministers agreed to scrap the last remaining Covid rules.

Passenger locator forms and testing requirements for those who are unvaccinated will be removed on Friday in a boost for the travel industry before the Easter holidays.

Border measures are the last Covid measures to be ditched under the government’s plan for living with the virus, which in effect stands down Britain’s pandemic response. Ministers agreed the changes after Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, rejected objections from health officials and argued that it was time to get back to normal.

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Last month the requirement for vaccinated travellers to take a test was scrapped to make half-term breaks easier but the passenger locator form was maintained as a way of tracking people quickly.

Health officials argued that the locator form was helpful in dealing with the arrival of new variants because it allowed contact tracing to be carried out more quickly, but airlines argued strongly for the extra paperwork to be scrapped.

Mr Shapps had also pushed for the locator form to be scrapped and Mr Javid broke with previous advice from his department to back lifting the rules.