The Day 2 COVID Test Is Being Scrapped For Fully Vaccinated

The Government has confirmed that people arriving into England from abroad will no longer be required to take a Day 2 COVID test IF they are fully vaccinated. This change comes into effect from 4am on 11 February, in time for the half-term break.

What about the unvaccinated, do they still need to take a day 2 COVID test?

Yes, anyone who is unvaccinated will be required to take a ‘day 2’ PCR. This must be taken within the 2 days after arrival into the UK (arrival is Day 0.) However, you will no longer be required to undertake 10 days of home quarantine and the ‘Day 8’ test is being scrapped completely. You will still be required to take a pre-departure test (Fit to Fly) if you are unvaccinated.

If you need a Day 2 COVID test take a look at our review of HALO at Heathrow T5 – https://pointsuncovered.com/miscellaneous/halo-day-2-pcr-heathrow-terminal-5/. We also reviewed Randox Fit to Fly tests here – https://pointsuncovered.com/miscellaneous/review-fit-to-fly-covid-test-at-home-with-randox/

Is the definition of being fully vaccinated changing?

For now, no. It is likely however that it will be updated in the future to include a booster jab. When this happens if you’ve only had two doses you would be treated as unvaccinated. This means when arriving in the UK you’d need to follow the unvaccinated advice.

Passenger Locator Forms aren’t going away…

Unfortunately, you will still be required to fill in a Passenger Locator form before returning to the UK. The good news however is these should be ‘shorter’ than before. The window for completing them before departure is also increasing from 48 hours to 72 hours.

NHS COVID Pass

The NHS COVID pass is now being extended to cover children aged 12-15. From the 3rd of February, they can download the NHS app and show their travel COVID pass on their phones.

Conclusion

These changes will make it less stressful to travel, particularly for families over the February half-term. It remains to be seen, however, if this is the last of mass testing vaccinated passengers. What do you make of the changes? You can read about the changes in detail on the Government website here – https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-open-for-travel-with-all-restrictions-removed-for-eligible-vaccinated-arrivals