Arrivals to England need a negative Covid test from Friday - or face £500 fines

The government announced last week that all arrivals to England, Scotland and Wales from overseas will need to show proof of a negative Covid test before entry into the country.

This regulation is now due to come into place for England from 4am on Friday 15 January. A date for when this will come into effect in Scotland and Wales has not yet been announced.

Travellers to provide negative Covid test

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All international passengers will have to take a Covid-19 test up to 72 hours before they depart - including UK nationals.

The regulation applies to inbound passengers on boats, planes and trains.

British nationals who are attempting to return home, but test positive for the virus must not travel, and must follow the local guidance in their host country.

Those travelling without a pre-departure negative test result will be fined a minimum of £500, and operators transporting non-compliant passengers will also be fined.

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Arrivals from a country not on the travel corridor list will still have to quarantine for 10 days regardless of their test results.

‘We are now taking additional steps to add a further layer of protection to safeguard public health’

Transport Minister Robert Courts said: "Both globally and domestically we are seeing significant increases in levels of coronavirus, including the emergence of worrying new strains.

"It is therefore imperative that we ensure we are doing all we can to protect travel, reduce the risk of imported infections, including from new variants, and protect our NHS while national lockdown and vaccinations take effect.

"We already have strong safeguards in place, including a requirement for mandatory 10-day self-isolation for the vast majority of arrivals and our Travel Corridors system remains critical in managing the risk of imported cases from high-risk countries.

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"However, as a result of increasing instances of COVID-19 around the world, including the emergence of new variants, we are now taking additional steps to add a further layer of protection to safeguard public health."

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