The UK has announced that fully vaccinated passengers and most under 18s arriving from non red-list countries can now use a lateral flow test on or before day 2 of their arrival in England instead of a PCR test starting from 24 October.
Lateral flow tests must be taken as soon as possible on the day of arrival in England or at the latest before the end of a passenger’s second day and can now be purchased from the list of private providers on GOV.UK from as little as £22 – significantly cheaper than PCR tests.
Passengers must take a photo of their lateral flow test and booking reference supplied by the private provider and send it back to them to verify the result. Failure to do so could result in a fine of £1000. Anyone with a positive result will need to take a free NHS confirmatory PCR test and isolate.
Lateral flow tests for international travel must be purchased from a private provider as NHS Test and Trace lateral flow tests cannot be used for international travel. Passengers who have already bought a PCR to use for travel do not need to buy another test as PCRs can still be used.
