Sunday, December 05, 2021

The final nail

 As I have said before, we decided back in October that we would not travel to the UK for Christmas this year. One of our concerns was that there may well be changes in the situation and thus changes in the rules.

Of course we could not foresee the emergence of a new variant of Covid but we could see that Covid infections were not going down in the UK. 

The Omicron variant has now thrown a spanner into the works for anyone wishing to travel to the UK and indeed for those wanting to come to Spain*. 

Last week it was decided that travelers to the UK would have to take a PCR test before day 2 and would have to self isolate until they had a negative result from the test. Now, to add to that, they also have to take either a lateral flow or a PCR test no more than 48 hours before departure and have proof of  a negative result . 

These measures apply to those who are double or even triple jabbed like Pam and I.  Apart form the extra cost of these tests, there is the inconvenience. 

* As we are residents, my understanding is that our Covid passports would still entitle us to return here. 

1 comment:

vv said...

I have read your latest post with interest and share your dismay. We were over at the end of October and naively thought things were on the mend.
We are due to come for Christmas but the lates change in rules has thrown everything up in the air. The awful gov.uk website is not at all clear in its instructions and we are angry that private firms are charging excessive prices for tests.
We are very reluctantly cancelling our Christmas visit but, like you, do not trust those who make the rules. The worst scenario would be if we were trapped in Spain should one or both of us tested positive. It's not back to square 1 but back to square minus 1.