England has announced mandatory Covid-19 testing in order to bolster boarder measures. According to GOV.UK, international arrivals to the UK, including UK nationals, are required to present a negative Covid-19 test before departing for England which must have been taken up to 72 hours prior to departure. If passengers fail to comply with this new rule, they will be subject to an immediate fine of £500.
Grant Shapps, Transport Secretary, has announced that from next week inbound passengers arriving by boat, plane or train will have to take a test up to than 72 hours before departing the country they are in, to help protect against the new strains of coronavirus such as those seen in Denmark and South Africa.
As well as providing a negative Covid-19 test result, passengers arriving to the UK from all countries other than those on the government’s travel corridor list will still be required to self isolate for 10 days, regardless of their test result.
According to The Guardian, this new mandatory testing comes many moths after boarder restrictions were put into place in other countries which helped to bring their local transmissions to an end. It also comes with mounting pressure for higher control with fears over the South African variant of the Covid virus.