England to treat all under-18 arrivals as fully vaccinated

Children aged 0-17 can avoid quarantine and day eight testing, regardless of vaccination status

Children don’t have to quarantine on arrival (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

From 4am on 22 November, England will change its travel rules to treat all under-18s arriving in the country as fully vaccinated, the government has announced.

In an statement on the UK.gov website, ministers said that all children aged five-17 “will be treated as fully vaccinated at the border and will be exempt from self-isolation requirements on arrival, day eight testing and pre-departure testing.”

“They will only be required to take one post-arrival test and a confirmatory free PCR test if they test positive,” it reads.

Children aged four and under do not have to undergo any Covid travel testing.

This ends confusion around whether inbound travellers to the UK will be held up by expensive testing and 10-day isolation periods imposed upon children who may not have been vaccinated yet.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps confirmed the move on Twitter, saying that “from 22 November, all under 18s worldwide travelling from non-red list countries will just need to take a lateral flow test on arrival”.

In the same announcement, ministers confirmed that from the same date and time, all vaccines on the World Health Organisation’s Emergency Usage Listing (EUL) would also be recognised in England.

This means Sinovac, Sinopharm Beijing and Covaxin are all now on the approved list, effectively easing restrictions for travellers coming from India, Malaysia and the UAE, among other countries.

Health secretary Sajid Javid said, “Today’s announcement is another step forward for the travel industry, businesses and for family and friends wanting to reunite or go abroad.

“The red list and quarantine system remain vital in protecting our borders and, as we’ve said, we will not hesitate to take action by adding countries to the red list if necessary.”