Air travel has been one of the last parts of society to still be subject to Covid measures in the UK. And finally, after two years of chopping and changing rules, the final remaining travel restrictions are set to be lifted. Both passenger locator forms and tests for unvaccinated travellers will be scrapped this Friday (March 18).
The locator forms have been around since June 2020, when travel was much more difficult (and riskier, too). Now ministers are scrapping them to make travel easier before the Easter holidays, which start in early April. From Friday, forms will no longer be needed for either vaccinated or unvaccinated travellers. The requirement that unjabbed travellers take a test on day two after arrival will also be scrapped.
Several other countries have already begun removing their forms: Ireland no longer requires passengers to provide tracking information, while Greece and Belgium axed their equivalents earlier this month. Like the UK, Norway and Iceland no longer have any Covid restrictions for travellers at all.
The dropping of all travel restrictions in the UK follows the government’s decision last month to end most domestic restrictions concerning working from home and mask wearing. Free mass testing is also set to end in the UK on April 1 – you can find out where to get cheap LFTs here.
Did you see that Australia has finally reopened its borders to travellers?