Irish passengers won’t need negative Covid test to enter UK

New measures apply to passengers entering the UK from Tuesday.

Travel measures announced by the United Kingdom to help curb the spread of Covid-19 will not apply to Irish passengers, the UK guidelines state. As reported by RTÉ, Irish passengers will not have to provide a negative antigen test, fill out a passenger locater form or quarantine on arrival in the UK, provided that they haven't been outside the Common Travel Area in the past ten days. The Common Travel Area includes the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Stricter measures apply for all other passengers entering the UK. From Tuesday, those wishing to enter the country from outside the Common Travel Area must produce a negative PCR or antigen test result. The UK Government has said that these travel restrictions are intended to be a "temporary" approach to stop the spread of the new Omicron variant. Today sees new travel restrictions apply for those entering Ireland. All passengers must show a negative PCR or antigen test. If you are vaccinated or have proof of recovery from Covid-19, you must produce either a negative antigen test taken no more than 48 hours before you arrive, or a negative PCR test taken no more than 72 hours prior to arrival. If you have not been vaccinated, you must produce a negative test result from a PCR test taken no more than 72 hours before arrival. A negative antigen test is not valid for unvaccinated passengers. All passengers must also fill out a passenger locator form. The Irish Government has also designated a number of areas as scheduled States. These are Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimabwe. Irish citizens in these areas are advised not to travel to Ireland. If a passenger has been in these areas in the past 14 days, they must quarantine at home for 14 days at the address given on their passenger locator form. They must then take a PCR test on days 2 and 8 of their quarantine. If these tests are negative, they may leave their home quarantine after 10 days.