Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said Covid-19 testing at UK airports will not remove the need for travelers to self-isolate because of the long incubation period of the disease.
In comments that will come as a further blow to the travel industry, Shapps said that while the government keeps quarantine rules “under active review,” airport testing picks up only a “very small proportion” of coronavirus carriers, meaning that a second test would be needed up to eight days later.
“In between time, guess what? You would need to quarantine,” Shapps told BBC Radio 4 on Friday, when asked whether airport testing could replace the UK requirement for travelers from non-exempt countries to self-isolate for two weeks. “So you’re not removing quarantine entirely.”
Airlines and airports say that requirement -- which applies to major markets like the US and key tourism destinations France and Spain -- is destroying demand. The heads of airlines including British Airways, Ryanair Holdings Plc, EasyJet Plc and Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd are pressing the government to replace or shorten quarantine by using tests for arrivals from countries deemed high risk.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said this week the government is working on introducing tests for Covid-19 at ports and airports, though he declined to set a timeframe for it.
Shapps said that while he’s not telling airports testing won’t work, he doesn’t want to offer “false hope by saying it’s just as simple as a test at the airport,” because that “won’t tell you what you need to know.”
