BRITS will save hundreds on foreign holidays as photos of lateral flow tests are set to replace pricey in-person tests.
The announcement came during today’s change to the travel red list, with 47 countries taken off.
The government confirmed today that passengers will be able to take pictures of their lateral flow test results to prove they haven’t caught Covid.
Travellers who have had both jabs will not need to take a pre-departure lateral flow test before they return to England from a country that isn’t on the red list.
They will need to take a test on the second day after they return – but it no longer has to be an expensive PCR test and can be a lateral flow instead.
The change is expected to come into place at the end of October.
It comes as Mexico, Thailand and Tunisia have all been removed from the travel ban list.
The full list of red list countries is now:
- Colombia
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- Haiti
- Panama
- Peru
- Venezuela
The red list changes will come into force from 4am on Monday, the Government announced.
Passengers returning to England from countries not on the red list will not have to quarantine at a hotel.
Brits must still pay for a 10-day hotel quarantine package when returning to the UK if the country is still on the red list.
If passengers leave the quarantine hotel before their 10 days are up, they will be handed a £5,000 coronavirus fine, but this figure can increase up to £10,000.
Also from Monday, travellers who have been vaccinated in 37 new countries including Brazil, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, South Africa and Turkey will be treated the same as returning fully-vaccinated UK residents.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “With half-term and winter sun around the corner, we’re making it easier for families and loved ones to reunite, by significantly cutting the number of destinations on the red list, thanks in part to the increased vaccination efforts around the globe.
“Restoring people’s confidence in travel is key to rebuilding our economy and levelling up this country. With less restrictions and more people traveling, we can all continue to move safely forward together along our pathway to recovery.”
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: “Our robust border measures have helped protect the phenomenal progress of our vaccination programme, and it is because of this success both here and around the world that we can safely open up travel further and we can visit friends and family abroad.
“We’re now making it easier and cheaper for people to travel by allowing fully vaccinated travellers from non-red list countries to use Lateral Flow Tests on Day 2 of arrival, as long as they provide proof of use.”
More travel restrictions have been lifted in recent weeks in the UK, with the green and amber lists scrapped.
The Foreign Office has also scrapped the non-essential travel warning against 32 countries this week, including to Fiji, Malaysia and Bangladesh
