New U.K Covid-19 international travel rules will take effect from Dec.7 — Details
Britain has issued strict travel rules amid Omicron variant concern. According to the new guidelines, all travelers, regardless of their vaccination status required to take a pre-flight Covid test within 48 hours prior to their flight.
The new travel rules will come into force from Tuesday.
The UK health minister Sajid Javid said that the new travel requirement would be temporary and be reviewed as the omicron outbreak develops. The UK has allowed travelers to take either an antigen test or a PCR test.
Here is the guidelines for traveling to England from another country
Applies to England
Changes to pre-departure testing from 4am, Tuesday 7 December 2021
From 4am, Tuesday 7 December all people aged 12 years and over must take a PCR or LFD COVID-19 test before they travel to England from abroad.
You must take the test within the 2 days before you travel to England.
This will apply whether you qualify as fully vaccinated or not.
Some people, including children aged 11 and under are exempt from taking the test.
If you are fully vaccinated
This is what you need to do if you qualify under the fully vaccinated rules for travel to England.
Before you travel to England – fully vaccinated
Before you travel to England you must:
- book and pay for a COVID-19 PCR test – to be taken after you arrive in England
- complete a passenger locator form – to be completed in the 48 hours before you arrive in England
From 4am, Tuesday 7 December you must also take a PCR or LFD COVID-19 test within the 2 days before you travel to England. Read more about taking a COVID-19 test before you travel to England.
You cannot use an NHS test for your PCR test. You must use a private test provider.
You will need to enter your COVID-19 test booking reference number on your passenger locator form.
If you’re in England for less than 2 days, you still need to book and pay for a day 2 COVID-19 test. You must quarantine until you receive a negative day 2 COVID-19 PCR test, or until you leave England, whichever is sooner.
When you arrive in England – fully vaccinated
After you arrive in England you must take a COVID-19 PCR test. This is the test that you booked before travel.
You can take the test any time after you arrive and before the end of day 2 at the latest. The day you arrive is day 0.
You must quarantine in your home or the place you are staying while you await your test result.
Test results
If your test result is negative, you can end your quarantine.
If your test result is positive, you must self-isolate for 10 full days. The day of the test is day 0.
If your test result is unclear, you must self-isolate for 10 full days. The day you took the test is day 0.
If your test result is unclear, you can choose to take another private test. If the result of that test is negative, you can stop self-isolating.
If your PCR test result is delayed, you must quarantine until you receive a negative test result or until day 14 after arrival, whichever is sooner.
Check if you qualify as fully vaccinated
To qualify under the fully vaccinated rules for travel to England, you must have proof of full vaccination with a full course of an approved vaccine.
You must have had your final dose of the vaccine at least 14 days before you arrive in England. The day you had your final dose does not count as one of the 14 days.
The proof of vaccination must have been issued by either:
- the UK vaccination programme
- the United Nations vaccine programme for staff and volunteers
- an overseas vaccination programme with an approved proof of vaccination for travel to the UK
Children and other groups that can follow fully vaccinated rules
Even if you are not fully vaccinated, the fully vaccinated rules apply if you are:
- under 18 – see Travelling with children in this guidance
- taking part in an approved COVID-19 vaccine trial in the UK or the USA (US residents only for USA trials), or a phase 2 or 3 vaccine trial that is regulated by the EMA or SRA
- unable to have a COVID-19 vaccination for a medical reason which has been approved by a clinician under the medical exemptions process, and you are resident in England
Proving your vaccination status
If you are fully vaccinated under the UK vaccination programme, you can prove your vaccination status using either:
- NHS COVID Pass for England and Wales
- NHS Scotland COVID Status app
- COVIDCert NI in Northern Ireland
Paper certificates are also available.
There are different ways to prove your vaccination status if you were vaccinated outside of the UK.
Check what proof is required for the country or territory where you were vaccinated.
If you cannot prove that you qualify under the fully vaccinated rules, you must follow the rules for people who are not fully vaccinated.
Red list countries
There are different rules if you have been in a red list country in the 10 days before you arrive in England.
Check which countries and territories are on the red list and read the red list rules.
If you are not fully vaccinated
This is what you need to do if you do not qualify under the fully vaccinated rules for travel to England.
Check this section of this guidance to see if you qualify as fully vaccinated.
Before you travel to England – not fully vaccinated
Before you travel to England you must:
- take a COVID-19 test – to be taken in the 3 days before you travel to England (from 4am, 7 December this is changing to 2 days before you travel)
- book and pay for day 2 and day 8 COVID-19 PCR tests – to be taken after arrival in England
- complete a passenger locator form – to be completed in the 48 hours before you arrive in England
Read more about taking a COVID-19 test before you travel to England.
When you arrive in England – not fully vaccinated
After you arrive in England you must:
- quarantine at home or in the place you are staying for 10 full days
- take your COVID-19 PCR tests – you must book these tests before you travel
You must take the first test on or before day 2 and the second test on or after day 8. The day you arrive is day 0.
If you are in England for less than 10 days, you need to quarantine for the time you are here. You need to book day 2 and day 8 PCR tests. You only need to take the tests if you are still in England on those days.
If the test result is positive
If your day 2 test is positive, you must self-isolate for 10 full days. The day you took the test is day 0.
You do not need to take the day 8 test if your day 2 test is positive. If your day 2 test is negative, you must take your day 8 test.
If your day 8 test is positive, you must self-isolate for 10 full days. The day you took the day 8 test is day 0.
If the test result is negative
If your day 2 test is negative, you must continue to quarantine.
You must take your day 8 test on or after day 8.
If your day 8 test is negative, you can stop quarantine on whichever is later:
- day 10 – day 0 is the day you arrived in England
- when you receive the day 8 test result
Example
If you receive your day 8 negative test result back on day 9, you must continue to quarantine until the end of day 10.
If you receive your day 8 negative test result back on day 12, you must quarantine until the end of day 12.
If the test result is unclear
If the result of your day 2 test is unclear, you must self-isolate for 10 full days. The day you took the test is day 0.
If the result of your day 8 test is negative, you can stop self-isolating on whichever is later:
- day 10 – day 0 is the day you arrived in England
- the day you received the negative day 8 test result
If your day 8 test is unclear, you must self-isolate for 10 full days. The day you took the day 8 test is day 0.
You can choose to take another private test. If that test result is a negative result, you can stop self-isolating on whichever is later:
- day 10 – day 0 is the day you arrive in England
- the day you received the negative replacement test result from the additional test
Test to Release scheme
If you need to quarantine, you may be able to end quarantine early if you pay for a private COVID-19 test through the Test to Release scheme.
Red list countries
There are different rules if you have been in a red list country in the 10 days before you arrive in England.
Check which countries and territories are on the red list and read the red list rules.
Travelling with children
Children aged 4 and under do not have to take any COVID-19 travel tests.
Children aged 17 and under do not have to take a COVID-19 test before travel to England.
From 4am, 7 December children aged 12 to 17 must take a PCR or LFD COVID-19 test within the 2 days before travel to England.
Children aged 5 to 17 have to follow the testing and quarantine rules for people who qualify as fully vaccinated on arrival in England.
This means that they have to quarantine on arrival and take a PCR test on or before day 2.
You should also check the rules in the country you are travelling from as they may require children to take a test at the start of your journey to England.
There are different rules for children who have been in a red list country or territory in the 10 days before they arrive in England.
Medical and work-related exemptions
Some people cannot be fully vaccinated for medical reasons.
Read more about medical exemptions from vaccination.
There are also medical exemptions from:
Some people are exempt from some or all of the requirements because of the job they do.
Transiting through England
Read separate guidance if you are transiting through England as part of an international journey.
Ireland, the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man
If you’re travelling to England from within the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, you do not need to:
- complete a passenger locator form
- take any COVID-19 tests
- quarantine on arrival in England
This only applies if you have not been outside of the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man in the 10 days before the day you arrive in England. If you have, you must follow the international travel rules in the place where you arrive.
Red list countries and territories
There are different rules if you have been in a red list country or territory in the 10 days before you arrive in England. If you need to follow red list rules, you must do so if you are fully vaccinated or not.
Check which countries and territories are on the red list and read the red list rules.
If you arrived in England before 30 November
The rules are different if you arrived in England before 4am, 30 November and you qualify as fully vaccinated.
If you did this, you are allowed to take a lateral flow test after arrival in England instead of a PCR test. You only need to self-isolate if the result of your test is positive or ‘unclear’.
This only applies if you arrived before 4am, 30 November. If you arrived after that you must follow the current rules.
When you arrive in England – fully vaccinated – arrival before 30 November only
After you arrive in England you must take a COVID-19 test on or before day 2. The day you arrive is day 0.
This is the lateral flow or PCR test that you booked before travel.
If the test result is negative, you do not need to self-isolate.
Lateral flow test – positive result
If you took a lateral flow test and the result is positive, you must take a free PCR test to confirm the result. You must self-isolate until you get the result.
If the PCR test result is positive, or inconclusive, you must self-isolate for 10 full days. The day you took the lateral flow test is day 0.
Lateral flow test – result unclear
If you took a lateral flow test and the result is unclear, you must self-isolate for 10 full days. The day you took the test is day 0.
You can choose to take another private test. If the result is negative, you can stop self-isolating.
PCR test – positive result
If you took a PCR test and the result is positive, you must self-isolate for 10 full days. The day of the test is day 0.
PCR test – result unclear
If you took a PCR test and the result is unclear, you must self-isolate for 10 full days. The day you took the test is day 0.
You can choose to take another private test. If the result is negative, you can stop self-isolating.
Travel abroad from England
Read guidance about what you need to do to travel abroad from England.
