Portugal fines travellers and airlines for breaching Covid test rules

Foreign Office travel advice does not explicitly mention the requirement for a professionally administered test

A passenger arricing at Faro airport (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Hundreds of holidaymakers have been fined by the Portuguese authorities for breaching tough new testing rules.

Since the start of December, Portugal has required a negative Covid-19 test from travellers from higher risk countries, including the UK.

The authorities specify that it should be a PCR test taken no more than 72 hours before boarding, or a much cheaper and quicker lateral flow/rapid antigen test in the 48 hours before departure.

They also stipulate it must be a “laboratorial rapid antigen test”: in other words, professionally administered.

Portuguese citizens, and foreigners with residence status are allowed to carry out tests on arrival, but this does not extend to holidaymakers.

Many UK travellers take self-administered tests, which do not qualify – although some airlines have mistakenly accepted them ahead of flights to Portugal.

The English-language newspaperThe Portugal News reports that, in the first six days of the new rules, 591 passengers were fined at Portuguese airports for breaching the test requirement by the Ministry of Internal Administration. Most were required to pay for another test on arrival.

In addition, 21 airlines are reported to have been fined for carrying passengers who were not legally allowed to travel.

The number of fined passengers represents 0.3 per cent of the total of 186,267 travellers who arrived in early December.

The rule does not apply to children aged 11 or under.

The Foreign Office does not explicitly mention the requirement for a professionally administered test in its online travel advice for Portugal.

The Independent has asked the FCDO to include a warning, but the request has not been acted upon.