Gooley said testing had become a "futile" endeavour now that most travellers are returning to the UK from countries with lower rates of Covid infection owing the rapid increase in new cases in the UK, and given that only a "tiny minority" of Day 2 PCR tests from returning travellers are being sequenced to scan for new variants of Covid-19.

"Even ’zero Covid’ countries have not kept the last two strains out," said Gooley.

Gooley said he hoped to see both the current pre-departure and Day 2 PCR testing requirements scrapped, or at the very least, the Day 2 test threshold lowered to lateral flow.

"Going on holiday is straightforward, getting home is where the admin currently kicks in," said Gooley. "We can be hopeful that 3 January will see the end of the test before return and the end of the Day 2 test on return.

Gooley continued: "Given most travellers are returning home from countries with a far lower incidence of Covid, these are futile and have done nothing to contain Covid while causing untold grief and collateral damage yet to be measured."

He added: "Only a tiny minority of PCR tests are sequenced and with these results taking several days, at best, they haven’t arrived in time to stop the arrival of any variant to date. Indeed, the Omicron variant was alerted by South African doctors observing different symptoms."

Huw Merriman MP, chair of the transport select committee, highlighted the low rate of sequencing of Day 2 PCR tests in the summer, estimating it could be as low as 5%.