4am Tuesday is the start time for PCR tests and compulsory isolation

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• ChrisC says:

  28 Nov28 November 09:53

  This is all predicated on the SI being approved by Parliament tomorrow.

  • HH says:

    28 Nov28 November 10:04

    Given their overriding desire to ‘save Christmas’, I expect this will sail through given how little anyone knows about omicron right now.

    • k says:

      28 Nov28 November 13:13

      …apart from it being an anagram of MORONIC

      • David says:

        28 Nov28 November 21:06

        And if you swap the C out for a K, it still sounds the same. Fitting really.

  • Richie says:

    28 Nov28 November 10:08

    Does Mr Johnson really understand what he can and can’t announce and the importance of SIs?

  • Roy says:

    28 Nov28 November 20:00

    He just needs to lay the instrument before parliament. Parliament won’t get to vote on it.

  • abc says:

    29 Nov29 November 14:07

    No it’s not, the government has 28 days before it has to ask parliament for a vote on it (and it’s in force in the meantime).

• HH says:

  28 Nov28 November 10:02

  I’m there now, returning tomorrow – guess I should count on this being my last trip for the foreseeable future 😕 at least until Omicron becomes prevalent in Switzerland.

  • Roger W says:

    28 Nov28 November 10:08

    It likely is as much as the UK but their scientists have not published any data yet or choose not to.

• JamesD says:

  28 Nov28 November 10:05

  Common travel area exempt still? Can’t find any official info

  • Rob says:

    28 Nov28 November 10:10

    Has to be as your arrival is not tracked.

    • ADS says:

      28 Nov28 November 12:49

      But presumably they could still tell arrivals from CTA to comply, even if they don’t track us !

      Although since the CTA has been excluded from every other travel regulation, hard to see why they would suddenly include us in this one

• Roger W says:

  28 Nov28 November 10:07

  Whats not clear if you are transiting GVA enroute to France skiiing. I have a trip booked on Saturday. No doubt BA will cancel anyway and likely France will Red List us anyway as is their habit!

  • Rich says:

    28 Nov28 November 10:48

    I would love to know this too. Even more complex, I’m planning on getting the TGV Paris to Geneva, in order to meet friends arriving by plane, before departing for France.

    So UK > FR > CH > FR for me. Not till January, so I’m not paying too close attention yet.

    • Lady London says:

      28 Nov28 November 11:47

      TGV arrives at Geneva Chambertin which is firmly in Switzerland. So you need to get out an an earlier stop in France – or go direct to tge resort in France

  • Charlieface says:

    28 Nov28 November 11:31

    GVA has French and Swiss border control, so you can just go out the other side

  • Lady London says:

    28 Nov28 November 11:45

    If you take the exit to France rather than the exit to Switzerland landing then technically you will not have entered Swiss soil

    • John says:

      28 Nov28 November 13:03

      But airline may not let you board.

    • Polly says:

      29 Nov29 November 17:32

      Swiss side exit closed atm, works.

• Alex says:

  28 Nov28 November 10:10

  If you have a BA holiday planned in less than 3 weeks, does this change gives you ground to request a voucher for it? Thanks!

  • Rob says:

    28 Nov28 November 10:45

    No, why would it? Nothing impacts your holiday at all – whether you need to isolate on your return isn’t anything to do with BAH. The only impact would be if your destination imposed new rules.

• C says:

  28 Nov28 November 10:16

  Is it worth paying an extra £15 premium to do an on-site pcr test (Collins on, express test) instead of mail in kits (T4A)? Would i receive the results sooner.

  • Ryan says:

    28 Nov28 November 10:43

    No one will know if you don’t quarantine…

    Save the £ and stop worrying

    • C says:

      28 Nov28 November 10:52

      Agree with this as logistically they have scaled down and now being asked to track all arrivals.

    • Rich says:

      28 Nov28 November 13:42

      People like you Ryan are part of the problem not the solution. What if he has the virus and doesn’t self quarantine? We all want this to end, but for that to happen we all have to play our part.

    • Mike says:

      28 Nov28 November 16:19

      Ryan – wrong attitude

  • Rob says:

    28 Nov28 November 10:44

    Obviously it’s quicker because it removes the 1-2 days required for the mail-in test to arrive. You can do a 3 hour test at Heathrow – you have the result by the time you get home.

    • David says:

      28 Nov28 November 10:52

      I believe that the 3 hour test is (at least currently) only ‘Fit to Fly’ i.e. pre departure.

      • C says:

        28 Nov28 November 10:56

        Day 2 tests requires genomic sequencing so not the same as rapid 3 hour test. If I get the results come back sooner I don’t mind paying the extra but keen to hear from peoples experience if it’s worth it.

        • Dave says:

          28 Nov28 November 11:15

          Err, no. Not all PCR tests are being sequenced, that would be a near-impossible feat.

          Positive PCR tests are subsequently sent for sequencing, including the 3-hour PCR tests at LHR.

      • Rob says:

        28 Nov28 November 13:24

        Same test though … not hard to repackage it.

        • GeorgeJ says:

          28 Nov28 November 16:42

          In fact they would be pretty daft not to, given the potential demand!

• Ian says:

  28 Nov28 November 10:17

  I’m flying into UK on Virgin from HK. I land at 4.40am. I had booked some LFT tests (wonder if you can get a refund?) which are now useless

  I have booked a PCR drive thru tests for outbound travel at Heathrow at 7am, as worried slots will go. What’s the likelihood these will be OK?

  • Graham says:

    28 Nov28 November 10:22

    Outbound tests won’t provide you with the PLF number but I assume the format is the same for the LFTs? Realistically you’re getting the same test so you may have to use the LFT code and take your PCR.

    If checked, which is highly unlikely, you can demonstrate your PCR results. The difference is the piece of paper rather than anything else but YMMV.

  • John says:

    28 Nov28 November 11:50

    I would bet that the PLF won’t be able to tell whether any codes are valid or not – unless the govt decides to change the format of the code at the last minute

  • ianM says:

    28 Nov28 November 13:56

    Simplytestme have helpfully emailed customers about refunds on LFT orders

• Peter says:

  28 Nov28 November 10:39

  I don’t see it working, lots of people coming for 5 days trip to UK who booked the £1 PCR tests won’t bother especially when all they risk are calls from Test and Trace. It will slow down the spread, but won’t stop it sadly.

  • Ryan says:

    28 Nov28 November 10:44

    £1 PCRs are back? That’s the best news I’ve heard for ages! I’ll get searching

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