You can now skip going into quarantine upon arriving in London, as the Heathrow Airport will soon start organising COVID-19 tests for incoming passengers. Those who take the test and get a negative result can go without any quarantine period. By Kumar Shree
Under this new regulation at London’s Heathrow Airport, passengers coming in from the USA, China, Brazil, and Portugal can take the pilot testing scheme of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Those who take the test and procure a COVID-19 negative result will be allowed to skip the quarantine period.
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The testing system called ‘Test-on-Arrival’ has been developed by the ground and cargo handling service, Swissport International and Collinson Group. The system awaits a go-ahead from the government and will be rolled out at the airport upon receiving the same.
The UK government has also put out a list of 59 countries that have low COVID-19 outbreak rate. The list includes countries like Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, France, and Spain. Individuals coming in from these countries are not required to get into quarantine upon their arrival in London.
Moreover, places like Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales have not decided on any travel restrictions yet.
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Passengers flying into Heathrow looking to escape the quarantine must set up an account and book a test ahead of their flight. On the other hand, those who have no problem in going through a 14-day quarantine can skip the test.
The samples collected at the airport will be sent to a biotech lab for testing, and the individuals will be asked to spend the day at an address provided by the authorities. The test result will be out by evening. Those who test negative can leave the address they’ve been asked to spend the day at, while those who test positive will need to spend 14 more days at the same address.
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