Britain to ditch last COVID-19 travel measures from Mar 18

LONDON: Britain will ditch the need for incoming travellers to fill in a passenger locator form, removing the last remaining COVID-19 travel measures from Friday (Mar 18), transport minister Grant Shapps said on Monday.

"All remaining Covid travel measures, including the Passenger Locator Form and tests for all arrivals, will be stood down for travel to the UK from 4am (12pm Singapore time) on 18 March," Shapps said in a tweet.

"These changes are possible due to our vaccine rollout and mean greater freedom in time for Easter." 

Last month, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that people in England with COVID-19 will longer be legally required to self-isolate. 

Johnson had ended almost all COVID-19 restrictions in England last July, and lifted "Plan B" measures that had been temporarily imposed to slow the spread of the Omicron variant. 

The rule was due to lapse on Mar 24, and Johnson had previously said that he would look to bring the end of the requirement forward if he could.

Britain had also dropped the requirement for vaccinated travellers arriving in the country to take a COVID-19 test.