Grant Shapps says new lateral flow travel tests rely on ‘common sense’
Grant Shapps admits new lateral flow travel tests rely on ‘common sense’ amid fears holidaymakers could fake photographs required to prove negative test – as costly PCR swabs are FINALLY replaced for half term
Double jabbed can take lateral flow tests instead of PCRs ‘before October 31’They will now have to take photo of negative lateral flow result on mobile phone Must then send it to private provider from whom they bought it for verification But concerns are now being raised about how people could fake a test result
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Transport Secretary Grant Shapps today said ‘common sense’ would be required after confirming double-jabbed tourists returning to Britain will soon be allowed to take a photograph of a Covid-19 lateral flow test to verify they are negative.
The policy change means that pricey PCR tests, which can cost more than £100, will finally be scrapped in time for families returning from half-term holidays.
The PCR tests will be replaced with cheaper rapid lateral flow swabs for travellers ‘before October 31’, although the free NHS tests will not be acceptable.
Travellers will now have to take a photograph of the negative lateral flow result on a mobile phone and send it to the private provider from whom they bought it.
This will then be verified by the private provider, but it is not yet clear how this will work – and concerns are now being raised about how people could fake a result.
Mr Shapps said today he would be relying on ‘people’s common sense’ when asked how authorities could be sure the photographed test belonged to the right person.
Travellers will have to book the tests through private providers and prove on their passenger locator form, which must be filled out by all travellers before returning, that they have done so. Lateral flow tests typically cost between £20 and £40.
There are also understood to be concerns about whether private providers have enough supply to meet demand, delaying the announcement of a specific date.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps today told BBC Breakfast that he would be relying on ‘people’s common sense’ when asked about companies verifying lateral flow tests
A person holds a negative lateral flow Covid-19 test in front of a UK passport (file picture)
Holidaymakers returning from popular destinations such as Cape Verde, Indonesia and Thailand will no longer have to quarantine in hotels for 11 nights at a cost of £2,285
But it means families going on a week-long break at the start of the October half-term holidays should be able to dodge shelling out for a pricey PCR on their return.
Among those raising concerns on social media about the new lateral flow photo policy was Pamela Collumb, who tweeted today: ‘Doesn’t prove they are Covid negative, anyone could do the test. Complete waste of time and money!’
And Karen John said: ‘What if you can’t take it?! Lots of people do not have the phones to take this! Who thinks up these crazy ideas?’
A third Twitter user said: ‘How long before an app that mocks up a false photo of your home based Covid-19 lateral flow test appears online?! What a total farce.’
It comes after ministers agreed that returning vaccinated holidaymakers will not have to film themselves taking Covid tests.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid had wanted travellers to be supervised taking the rapid tests.
But following a meeting of the ‘Covid O’ committee of Cabinet ministers yesterday morning, it was agreed that a photograph of the negative result taken on a mobile phone and sent to the provider to verify will be sufficient.
Also yesterday, the ‘no-go’ red list was slashed from 54 countries to just seven by ministers.
Forty-seven countries were axed from the red list and moved to the safe ‘go’ or green list, opening up quarantine-free holidays to these places for the first time in months.
The changes will take effect at 4am on Monday. Holidaymakers returning from popular destinations such as Cape Verde, Indonesia and Thailand will no longer have to quarantine in hotels for 11 nights at a cost of £2,285.
Other destinations moved off red include Cuba, Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, the Seychelles, Tunisia and South Africa.
Travel chiefs last night hailed the move as ‘long overdue’ and said it signalled ‘light at the end of a very long tunnel’ for the beleaguered industry, which has been brought to its knees by the pandemic.
The major re-opening, coupled with the scrapping of PCR tests for the vaccinated, is a huge boost to those looking for a foreign getaway during half-term and beyond.
Destinations moved off red include Cuba, Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, the Seychelles, Tunisia and South Africa. A beach is pictured above in Cancun
Mr Shapps said: ‘With half-term and winter sun around the corner, we’re making it easier for families and loved ones to reunite by significantly cutting the number of destinations on the red list, thanks in part to the increased vaccination efforts around the globe.’
But ministers faced growing calls to reach a decision on the exact date when rapid swabs will replace PCR tests. A source insisted it will be ‘before October 31’.
Mr Shapps told Sky News today: ‘We want to get this done for half term for people.’
He added: ‘We anticipate having it ready for the half term, and what a difference it will make for people.’
He said the process with lateral flows rather than PCR tests will be ‘much much easier, much less expensive as well’.
Asked when an announcement can be expected, he said: ‘In the coming days’.
People arriving in the UK who take a lateral flow test to check their Covid status will have to take a photograph of it to prove the result.
Mr Shapps told BBC Breakfast: ‘If it’s positive, you’ll automatically receive a PCR test, you’ll be in the NHS system, as with the normal Test and Trace, so you’ll get the PCR without having to do anything further, and of course, be asked to isolate.
‘If it’s negative, that’s it, you’re free to go, and the good thing is that can either be done, as I say, as soon as coming through the gates, potentially, at some airports where they might offer that, or you may have ordered a test to be at your home.
‘You carry out that test, we’re going to ask people to take a photograph of it so that it’s actually your test. And that’s it, the job is done, there’s nothing further to do. So it’s going to be a much simplified, much cheaper system.’
Asked how authorities could be sure the photographed test belonged to the right person, Mr Shapps said: ‘Well, look, you could always say this with any system, the PCR system that’s been in place up until now hasn’t required any monitoring at all. So you could always make that argument.
‘We have throughout this crisis, though, I think relied on people’s common sense, I think most people wanted to do the right thing.’
Mr Shapps also said travellers returning to the UK could be ‘done and dusted’ with organising testing before they even get home, with lateral flows set to be available at airports.
The Transport Secretary said the goal is to have made the switch from PCR testing to quicker and cheaper lateral flows by half-term.
Asked if he was referring to English schools’ half-terms around October 22, he told Times Radio: ‘Yes, that’s right, 22nd of October. That’s the goal and, as I say, the testing companies are gearing up to do that.
‘I’ve spoken to the airports including Heathrow and they even have tests available as you walk through the airport so you could be done and dusted before you even get home with these things, which will be a massive improvement to having to send off PCR tests to labs and waiting for the results and all the costs involved.’
Mr Shapps also said lateral flow tests had been ‘getting better and better’ on their sensitivity.
He told BBC Breakfast: ‘You’re right to say you can’t then sequence the genome from a lateral flow test. The advantage here is if you do get a positive lateral flow, you’ll automatically be sent the PCR test, and that then can be sequenced.
‘The one other advantage of the lateral flow, of course, is the instantaneousness of the result, you have the result within 15 minutes, and that means that we think that there’ll be fewer people wandering around unaware that they have something, that they’ve got the coronavirus, and therefore in one sense, it’s a little bit safer, even though you’re right to say that the specification is slightly less than a PCR test.’
Asked if he was sure the move to lateral flow tests would not put the public at greater risk, Mr Shapps said: ‘Yeah, that’s right because of vaccination – and by the way, I should say this all only applies to fully vaccinated folk, here and abroad – and because of vaccination, the risks are massively reduced, because of the quality of the lateral flow test and the speed at which they can be taken, we’re comfortable with that and our scientists are comfortable with that, and it’s a big step forward.’
Asked if he foresees a ‘testless, traffic light-less’ summer of travel next year, Mr Shapps said: ‘I very much hope so’.
He told Times Radio: ‘Having gone through this two years in a row, two summers in a row and, like many other people, experienced the shortcomings of a system that was able to change so quickly, I really do hope that this is the world going back to normal.’
He said the vaccine is ‘the answer’, adding: ‘The vaccine is the thing that’s enabled us to make these big changes on international travel as well.’
Mr Shapps also told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the changes to coronavirus testing for travellers would be in place ‘hopefully in time for people returning from a half-term holidays potentially, and certainly by the end of October’.
Thomas Cook chief executive Alan French said the recently announced changes were ‘good news for both ourselves and our customers’, but stressed that more clarity is needed from the Government.
He said that while there will be no catch-up this year with 2019 because ‘most of the holiday season is really gone’ for 2021, the opportunity to now book a half-term or Christmas break is welcome.
Mr French told LBC: ‘I think if people are starting to plan for the winter sun break, which is really around Christmas time, again, way more options than they had before, much better deals, so we are upbeat about that.
‘But those are, in all honesty, slightly smaller parts of our business than the summer, which is obviously behind us.’
He added that he wants ‘clarity’ from the Transport Secretary, particularly in relation to changes around lateral flow testing.
Mr French said: ‘If there was one thing that I would like from Grant Shapps, it’s clarity as to what’s going on, when things are going to change, and give us some notice.
‘Even if there has to be a provision in there that says: ‘If something goes wrong, it might change’ – but at least give us a road map of activities that we can plan for, that’s what we really would like.’
The Department for Transport said it was still ministers’ ‘ambition to have this in place for people returning from half-term breaks by the end of the month’.
It comes after the traffic light system was scrapped on Monday and replaced with one red list and a safe ‘rest of the world’ list.
Double-jabbed travellers will now only have to take one test after returning from safe countries by day two.
From later this month, a PCR test – free on the NHS – will only be required if the rapid test is positive. Children are treated as though fully vaccinated, even if they are not, making family holidays possible.
But non-vaccinated people must quarantine at home for ten days, take a pre-return test within 72 hours and two PCR tests on days two and eight after arrival.
The seven countries that remain on the red list are Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Haiti, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. The red list will continue to be reviewed every three weeks.
The changes only apply to England. It was unclear last night whether the devolved governments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will follow suit.
The travel industry hailed the news that 47 countries were being removed from the red list.
British Airways chief Sean Doyle said: ‘It finally feels like we are seeing light at the end of a very long tunnel. Britain will benefit from this significant reduction in red list countries.’