UK's Covid travel rules to be scrapped this week -…

UK's Covid travel rules to be scrapped this week - including passenger locator forms

All of the UK's remaining Covid travel measures including passenger locator forms will be scrapped on Friday, the transport secretary has said.

Grant Shapps announced on Monday, March 14, that the changes will make foreign holidays easier despite coronavirus cases rising in the UK. Other measures that will be scrapped include the requirement for unvaccinated people to be tested for Covid-19 before entering the UK.

Mr Shapps said that the scrapping of measures will "mean greater freedom in time for Easter" as schools across the country will soon be entering the spring half-term. The measures for travel will end from 4am on Friday and the move is part of the government's plans for "living with Covid".

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Mr Shapps tweeted: "All remaining Covid travel measures, including the Passenger Locator Form and tests for all arrivals, will be stood down for travel to the UK from 4am on 18 March.

“These changes are possible due to our vaccine rollout and mean greater freedom in time for Easter.”

It comes as coronavirus infections are on the rise in all four of the UK's nations for the first time since the end of January, with levels in Scotland already reaching record-high levels, according to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics.

Furthermore, the numbers for hospital patients with Covid has also seen a steady increase, rising 19 per cent week-on-week in England. Hospital admissions with coronavirus in England still remain far below the peaks reached during the emergence of the Omicron variant and other previous waves of the virus.

Passenger locator forms have been a mandatory requirement for travellers to input their details, address in the UK and vaccination status and have been used to track people after outbreaks of Covid-19. Currently, they are required by all arrivals coming to the UK outside Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.

Tim Alderslade, the chief executive of Airlines UK – the industry body representing UK carriers, welcomed the announcement, saying it sends the message that “the UK travel sector is back”.

“With travellers returning to the UK no longer burdened by unnecessary forms and testing requirements, we can now look forward to the return to pre-Covid normality throughout the travel experience,” he added.

“We’re grateful for the timing of the announcement as we prepare to welcome back passengers this Easter and Summer, for which we know there is huge pent-up demand, and for the UK’s leadership in being the first major aviation market to remove all remaining restrictions.”