Following the removal of COVID testing restrictions by the trade body Airlines UK and Manchester Airports Group, the U.K government is expected to announce that pre-departure testing will no longer be required for travellers.
The pre-departure testing was placed one month ago to tackle the spread of the Omicron variant.
Reports show that before Christmas, one in 25 persons in England had COVID-19.
Currently, travelers in the UK who are fully vaccinated must take a pre-departure test and self-isolate until they are confirmed negative, while those who are not fully vaccinated must self-isolate for 10 days after arrival.
Recall that last December, the UK government removed all 11 countries on its travel red list, reversing the tightening of restrictions earlier imposed to contain the spread of Omicron from abroad.
However, the trade body and MAG – which operates Manchester, London Stanstead and East Midlands airports – conducted a research through consultancy firm, Oxera and analytics firm Edge Health.
The research shows that the removal of all testing requirements on international travel this month would not impact the spread of Omicron in the UK.
It also found that the introduction of pre-departure and day two PCR testing in late November and early December respectively had little impact on the spread of Omicron in the UK.
In a research commissioned by Oxera, it showed that tightening of travel restrictions hurt the sector last month.
The companies stated that extra testing in response to Omicron reduced the UK aviation sector’s contribution to the economy by £60m a week.
