Covid travel restrictions have ended in the UK

All remaining Covid travel restrictions have now been lifted for passengers entering the UK.

As of 04:00 GMT, unvaccinated arrivals will no longer have to be tested – the rule had already been lifted for the vaccinated – and passenger locator forms have been scrapped.

It comes almost exactly two years after the first Covid lockdown measures were imposed in the UK.

Travel bosses said lifting the rules was the “ultimate game changer”.

Aviation Minister Robert Courts said: “Everything we’ve worked for – every hit, every test and sacrifice made by the whole country means that finally, almost two years later, we can all travel without bureaucratic restrictions.”

The government said the change was deliberately timed before the Easter holidays, but added contingency plans had been drawn up to respond to any future variants of Covid.

Derek Jones, CEO of Kuoni, a tourism company, said bookings have increased in recent months.

“Removing all travel restrictions is the ultimate game changer – people can now go on holiday or visit family and friends abroad without all the stress of testing before returning home,” he said.

“Finally, we’ve seen the reverse of the unpopular and ineffective passenger locator forms, which were always difficult to fill out. Travel has been turbulent for two years, but now it’s back.”

However, UK travelers are advised to check the rules of the countries they visit, as many still have restrictions and testing requirements.

The removal of the rules marks the end of a rapidly changing and often complex set of Covid rules for people arriving in the UK.

People were first advised against all non-essential international travel in March 2020.

Later that year, passenger locator forms for arrivals were introduced, along with “travel corridors”, with people arriving from countries outside the corridors required to self-isolate.

Other rules have included pre-departure and post-arrival testing; hotel quarantine for some arrivals; and a “traffic light” system of red, amber, and green countries.

The traffic light system could often cause short-term changes in people’s plans as countries transitioned from one color to another.

In an added complication, the four nations could set their own rules, meaning there were sometimes different restrictions in different parts of the UK.

More recently, all UK governments have agreed to changes.