England will ease testing rules for travel into the United Kingdom. Fully vaccinated travelers arriving in England will no longer have to test before travel. Upon arrival, they will take a PCR test, but they will no longer have to self-isolate while awaiting results.
What are the testing changes?
This change to testing was announced on January 7, 2022. Travelers will still be required to book a COVID-19 test to take before day 2 of their trip. The most significant change is that the lateral flow test is all that is needed rather than a PCR test. Free NHS tests are not allowed. Fully-vaccinated arrivals no longer need a negative pre-departure test and will not need to self-isolate until they get a negative PCR test. This is welcome news for the many people who want to travel to England.
Unvaccinated passengers will continue to take a pre-departure test, PCR tests on day two and day eight, and self-isolate for ten days.
According to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, this balanced approach means where specific measures are no longer serving their purpose; The U.K. will drop them. For example, when the omicron variant was first identified, travel restrictions were introduced to slow its arrival into the country. Still, now Omicron is so prevalent, these measures have a limited impact on the growth in cases while posing high costs to the travel industry. In addition, the pre-departure test discourages many people from traveling for fear of being trapped overseas and incurring extra expenses.
U.K. vaccination rates show that more than 82% of people 12 and older are vaccinated with two shots, and over 60% have received a booster.
Can We Travel To The UK From The United States?
It is hard to keep up with Covid travel guidelines because so many countries keep changing their travel guidelines. U.S. travelers can travel to the U.K. regardless of their vaccination status. However, all non-vaccinated travelers 12 and older must show proof of a negative Covid-19 test, taken no later than 48 hours prior to departure, before entering the country. With the new changes, Fully vaccinated travelers to England will not need to take a test prior to travel.
The CDC has the U.K. currently classified as a Level 4 Very High travel risk. What does that mean? It means that the CDC thinks travel to the United Kingdom should be avoided.
