Grant Shapps has said he wants returning international travellers to be able to use lateral flow tests instead of costly PCR tests by the half-term holiday.
Speaking to Sky News, the transport secretary said ministers “anticipate” the change coming into force before the October break which will make family trips abroad “much easier, much less expensive as well”.
Most schools will break up for half-term on Friday 22 October, and will have 25-29 October off, before pupils return to class on 1 November. Terms dates will vary by council.
“We want to get this done for half-term for people,” Mr Shapps told Sky News on Friday.
“I know my colleagues at [the Department of] Health and to some extent the Home Office – they are the people that have to implement this change – are working extremely hard on getting this done.
“And so we anticipate having it ready for the half-term.”
Pushed on when an official announcement would come from the government, the transport secretary added: “In the coming days.
“We know obviously the half-term is coming up and my advice to people would be just to hold off.
“You will need to make sure you have got a lateral flow test booked and you will put the reference number on your passenger locator form before you come home.”
The government previously said its “ambition” was for this to be in place “for people returning from half-term breaks by the end of the month”.
Ministers announced on Thursday that later this month, fully vaccinated travellers from approved countries will be able to take a lateral flow test on day two after arriving, instead of a pricey PCR test, and they will be able to send a picture of their test to verify the result.
It follows backlash from members of the travel industry who suggested costly PCR tests were putting people off flying to non-red list countries.
If returning travellers test positive then they will be given a free PCR test to confirm and passengers who are fully vaccinated in countries not…
Source : skynews
