All travellers arriving in the UK will be required to take two Covid tests while they quarantine under plans due to be announced by the Government.
With the new measures, travellers will have to take tests after two and eight days into their 10-day quarantine period. Last week , it was announced that UK nationals returning from high risk “red list” destinations will have to quarantine in hotels from February 15.
Boris Johnson said that England will be “relying very much on border controls” to protect against new strains, but that they will be “most effective” when infection rates are brought down.
A DHSC spokesman said: “Enhancing our testing regime to cover all arrivals while they isolate will provide a further level of protection and enable us to better track any new cases which might be brought into the country, and give us even more opportunities to detect new variants.”
Prime Minister Mr Johnson also stated that he was “very confident” in the vaccines being used in the UK. Professor Van-Tam emphasised that it was important to take the vaccine if you are offered one, to protect against the “clear and present danger” posed by Covid in the UK currently, rather than wait for an updated vaccine that might be more effective against the South African variant of which there are only 147 confirmed cases.
At a Downing Street press conference he said that it was “very much on our radar” that booster shots in the autumn may be required for new variants, similar to seasonal flu vaccines. It is hoped that Covid will become an illness that is “manageable in the community”, with the most vulnerable protected by vaccines so that “we open up a whole way of living normally, much more normally, again in the future”.
Speaking during a visit to a coronavirus test manufacturer in Derby, Boris Johnson did not rule out the possibility of delaying the relaxation of lockdown restrictions, although he added that he has “no doubt that vaccines generally are going to offer a way out”.
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