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Heathrow Airport has reopened its Terminal 4 building as a dedicated facility to process arrivals from countries on the UK’s coronavirus travel red list.
The airport said its “safety first approach” was a response to the potential risks posed by the new Omicron variant, which prompted the government to bolster travel rules on Monday.
It came after 10 southern African nations were added to the red list: Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia.
The dedicated terminal to handle the flights deemed the highest risk will also be seen as alleviating criticism around massive summer border queues at Heathrow in the run-up to, what is tipped to be, another Christmas season gripped by restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19.
IT failures at immigration have also created backlogs of passengers.
The travel sector – among those worst hit by the pandemic to date – is furious at the prospect of passenger demand being affected again by added costs for travellers.
The rules currently state that anyone arriving from abroad is required to take a day 2 PCR test and self-isolate until they get a negative result.
Only British and Irish citizens will be allowed into the UK from the newly red-listed countries in southern Africa.
They will have to show a negative test taken within three days of departure.
They will then have to spend 10 days in a government-approved quarantine hotel, at a cost of more than £2,000, after landing.
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Starmer calls for stricter travel restrictions
T4 has been handling…
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Source : skynews
