Prime minister Boris Johnson confirmed the changes on Wednesday (5 January), with pre-departure testing set to end from 4am on Friday. Meanwhile, from Sunday, arrivals into the UK will be able to take a lateral flow test instead of a PCR test to satisfy the government’s Day 2 testing requirement, and will no longer have to self-isolate while they wait for the result.
The changes mark a return to pre-Omicron testing rules for travel, which came into effect in early October. The government, though, reimposed more stringent testing measures in late November following the emergence of the Omicron variant.
