UK mulls dropping day 2 PCR test for green list arrivals

Rule change to be considered in 28 June review

PCR test prices for travel are going down (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The government will consider dropping the requirement for travellers returning to the UK from green list countries to take a PCR test within two days of arrival – but only if the move is backed by science.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps said the current rules would be reassessed in the 28 June review of the current travel traffic light system.

Though he has previously said he is in favour of a “vaccination dividend” for travellers who have received both doses of the Covid vaccine, he added that the data would have to show limited risk of virus transmission from those already inoculated, reports The Telegraph.

According to Shapps, vaccinated travellers appear to have an 85 per cent chance of being fully protected against catching the virus. The risk people then pose of transmitting infections is still being assessed.

“It’s still our intention to look at those rules,” he said, during a transport webinar hosted by think tank Policy Exchange, of the current requirement to take a PCR test for travellers who have received both jabs and returned to the UK from a destination on the government’s green list of “safe” countries.

“I cannot give you a hint or idea about where those rules will go because the scientists are working hard on the question of the extent to which a fully vaccinated person can bring back a variant of concern. Caution remains our watchword as we move to a better position.”

Mr Shapps told MPs that “we have to have respect for the science.”

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, has called the current rules “damaging”.

“There is no recognition for someone’s vaccination status, unlike the EU’s and US’s planned approaches,” he said.

“In effect, despite its slow start to vaccinating its populations, the EU has now stolen a march on the UK.”