UK scraps pre-arrival PCR tests for international travellers

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that compulsory Covid-19 tests required by overseas travellers no earlier than 48 hours before arriving in England will be scrapped from January 7.

Addressing the year's first Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) session in the House of Commons, Johnson said the government is also lifting the requirement for international travellers, including those flying from India to self-isolate on arrival in England until receiving a negative PCR test result.

Instead, people can take a cheaper lateral flow test on day two of their entry into the UK.

'When the Omicron variant was first identified, we rightly introduced travel restrictions to slow its arrival in our country; but now Omicron is so prevalent, these measures are having limited impact on the growth in cases while continuing to pose significant costs on our travel industry, Johnson said in his Covid-19 update to Parliament.