The United Kingdom has imposed a £500 fine on travelers that refuse to abide by the COVID-19 rules. It is said that international arrivals are now required to provide negative COVID-19 test result before departure for England.
It also stated that all international travelers to England, including UK nationals, have to present a negative COVID-19 test taken up to 72 hours before departure.
This followed the recent decision to temporarily suspend direct travel from South Africa and 11 other African countries to England after new evidence emerged from health authorities reporting an outbreak of a variant strain of coronavirus spreading to some local communities.
According to a statement disclosed by the British High Commission in Nigeria, “Passengers will be subject to an immediate fine of £500 if they fail to comply with the new regulations on pre-departure testing.”
Asides the aforementioned, passengers arriving from countries not on the government’s travel corridor list will still be required to self-isolate for 10 days, regardless of the test result.
The UK explained that passengers will still be required to fill in a passenger locator form and subject to national lockdown restrictions. The UK Border Force will conduct spot checks on arrival into England to ensure that passengers are fully compliant.
The commission noted that the new regulations announced on Sunday were in response to the changes seen in the transmission of the virus both domestically and across the globe.
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It argued that pre-departure testing would protect travel and also provide an additional layer of safety from imported cases of coronavirus on top of the mandatory 10-day self-isolation for arrivals, helping identify people who may currently be infectious and preventing them from travelling to England.
The statement added that the national lockdown restrictions which came into force on January 6, 2021, would remain in place.
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