The travel guidelines for UK travelers
On the sequence of the latest developments regarding the inclusion of of Portugal in the UK government travel “green list”, we share the information regarding the test requirements and applied rules to the visitors arriving to region:
1. If you are travelling to Portugal, it is mandatory, before leaving the UK to perform a RT-PCR test, 72h before travelling.
2. Not more than 72h before returning to the UK, passengers must perform:
(follow the official hyperlinks)
• Complete a passenger locator form.
• Take a COVID-19 test ****
• Book and pay for a day 2 COVID-19 test.
**** Who needs to do it, types of tests and procedures and who needs to do it
» You must take a test even if:
• you’re a UK citizen.
• you’ve already had the COVID-19 vaccine
Type of test:
• You will need to find a test provider. You must make sure that the test provider can meet the standards for pre-departure testing.
• The test must meet performance standards of ≥97% specificity, ≥80% sensitivity at viral loads above 100,000 copies/ml.
This could include tests such as:
• a nucleic acid test, including a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test or derivative technologies, including loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) tests
• an antigen test, such as a test from a lateral flow device
It’s your responsibility to ensure the test meets the minimum standards for sensitivity, specificity and viral load details. You must check with your test provider that it meets those standards.
Information in the test result:
• Your test result must be in either English, French or Spanish. Translations will not be accepted.
• You must provide the original test result notification and it must include the following information:
• your name, which should match the name on your travel documents
• your date of birth or age
• the result of the test
• the date the test sample was collected or received by the test provider
• the name of the test provider and their contact details
• confirmation of the device used for the test, or that the test was a PCR test
Your test result can be provided as:
• a printed document
• an email or text message you can show on your phone (make sure your device is charged)
If the test result does not include the information above you may not be able to board, and may not be able to travel to England. If you arrive without a test result that includes this information, you might have to pay a £500 fine.
3. 2nd day after your arrival in the UK:
• You must take a COVID-19 test on day 2 after you arrive.
• You do not need to quarantine unless the test result is positive.
• You must self-isolate if NHS Test & Trace informs you that you travelled to England with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.
Official websites:
www.gov.uk/guidance/red-amber-and-green-list-rules-for-entering-england (end of page “GRENN LIST COUNTRIES and territories – from 17th May)
To respond to the need of testing on the destination, it’s available information regarding the laboratories and sample units in the Algarve region. Both information may and should be shared between travel agencies, hotels and airlines so that it can be clear to the traveler and make the flying process easy and efficient as the need for testing.
List of the region availability and capacity of testing (Laboratories and sample units) Information updated and available in this link.
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