Tue 20 October 2020:
Passengers travelling to Hong Kong and Italy from Britain’s Heathrow Airport will undergo a one-hour coronavirus test before flying out of the United Kingdom under plans to open up international travel, The Times newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Rapid tests will be introduced from Tuesday at Heathrow Airport in London to allow travellers to enter countries where a negative COVID-19 test result is needed to avoid a lengthy quarantine, the newspaper said.
Aviation services firms Collinson and Swissport have set up rapid-testing facilities for outbound passengers at Heathrow, the newspaper said.
The testing facilities will initially be open for four weeks and could be extended if there is sufficient demand from passengers, the report added.
Heathrow, Collinson and Swissport did not immediately respond to the Reuters news agency’s requests for comment early on Tuesday.
It is unclear whether arrivals would receive a testing kit in the airport to administer at home themselves or have to return to the airport to be tested under the government’s plans.
The travel industry has previously called for pre-departure testing or testing upon arrival to remove the need for quarantine altogether.
But the government has rejected the idea of a single test on arrival claiming this would only pick up about 7 per cent of asymptomatic cases.
Aircraft passenger numbers have fallen drastically since the beginning of the year as pandemic restrictions have grounded flights around the globe.
More than 40 million people around the world have now been diagnosed with the coronavirus and there has been a wave of new cases in Europe. Countries like Hong Kong have kept the virus in check with strict border controls and quarantines.
