British authorities will soon offer arriving international travellers a way to shorten quarantine if they test negative for COVID-19.
Current rules across the United Kingdom require all travellers to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival, except for those travelling from exempt destinations (such as Australia and Germany) on the government’s travel corridors list.
The regulations—which apply to both U.K. residents and visitors—include fines of up to £1,000 for people who fail to properly self-isolate after travelling from a nonexempt country. However, the British government recently announced that it will soon make a significant update to this COVID-19 travel mandate.
Beginning December 15, passengers who arrive to England from destinations not on the government’s travel corridors list can reduce their 14-day quarantine period by more than half if they test negative for the coronavirus.
As part of the government’s new Test to Release strategy, travellers from nonexempt countries can opt to take a COVID-19 PCR test after 5 full days of self-isolation, and if the test comes back negative they’ll be allowed to skip the remainder of the 14-day quarantine.
All arriving passengers to England—even those from exempt travel corridor countries—currently have to complete a passenger locator form before passing through the U.K. border.
After December 15, travellers to England will be able to indicate on this form whether they plan to use the Test to Release program and, if so, where they’ll take a PCR test after 5 days in quarantine.