Travellers will need to show a negative Covid-19 test when travelling to UK
Author: Triston Macauley | Friday 8th January 2021
All international passengers will be required to test negative for Covid-19 before travelling to the UK.
Travellers arriving by plane, train or boat including UK nationals will have to take a test 72 hours before leaving the country they are in.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps has stated that travellers “can’t board without having that negative test”.
Mr Shapps said the government was “very keen to set up compulsory testing now because of the new variant of the virus circulating in South Africa, which he said was “causing great concern with the scientists”.
Grant Shapps told BBC Breakfast “They’re not sure whether for example the vaccine will be able to deal with it in the first place, and we’re very, very keen to keep it out”.
The new measures are expected to come into effect across the UK from next week and “as soon as possible” in Scotland.
Amid surges in cases, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pledged to offer “hundreds of thousands” of Covid vaccines per day in England by 15 January.
