Travel industry in turmoil tonight after new restrictions were announced following discovery of Omicron Covid, a super-mutant strain found in Britain.
Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, announced these new rules during an afternoon Downing Street press conference. He was joined by Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty (CMA) and Sir Patrick Vallance, Chief Scientific Advisor.
Every person who arrives in the UK for the first time must take a PCR testing within two days of arriving. Once they receive a positive result, the individual should remain in isolation until further notice.
As industry experts demand clarification, it is unclear when these rules will become effective.
Paul Charles (CEO of the PC Agency), a travel expert, said to Mail Online, “This is horrible, terrible news.
Boris Johnson was the Prime Minister and revealed these rules at a Downing Street press event this afternoon.
Sajid Javid today announced that Britain sequenced two Omicron cases in Nottingham and Chelmsford.
“We require urgent clarity from the Government regarding when these rules will be in force.”
“Travellers that are planning to come to the UK are currently in uncertainty” It is not yet clear if these rules will apply tomorrow or next week.
He said that these measures had been a “major setback” for the sector at an important time in the year.
He said, “Everyone is feeling the exact same thing, it is going to be very difficult period.”
“This is going to undermine confidence in the sector during the crucial Christmas period.
“And it’s over with a variant that we don’t yet know all the details about.
Charles said: “There will always be new variations, so the government should have a better program in place that relying upon travel bans.”
Pre-departure as well as on-arrival testing were suggested by the boss of travel to be more sensibly approach new variants.
The UK recorded another 39 567 Covid cases today and 131 deaths. Department of Health officials posted nearly 40,000 daily infections – down 3.36 per cent from 40,941 last Saturday – after Sajid Javid announced that two cases of the ‘monstrous’ new Covid variant were detected. Also, the number of Covid-positive people has fallen 12.7 percentage from 150 in last week to 28,740.
These new guidelines also stipulate that Omicron cases suspected of being transmitted to humans must be reported immediately and all contact with them for 10 days.
Sajid Javid (Health Secretary) is expected to make clear the timing of the new rules before Monday.
The day that you arrive in Britain is called Day 0. After Day 2, you must take a PCR test.
If you arrive on Monday morning, your PCR must take place before Wednesday’s end.
Previous travel testing rules specified that ‘day 2’ tests should be taken on or before day 2.