Coronavirus: Heathrow to trial tests letting people skip quarantine

LONDON • London's Heathrow Airport plans to conduct trials of a coronavirus testing procedure that could allow the scrapping of quarantine rules for people arriving from places including the United States.

The pilot programme would be offered as a private service, with swabs taken by nurses from Collinson Group at a facility run by ground-handling firm Swissport International.

Passengers would go on to their place of quarantine with the results made available within 24 hours.

"The government made a significant step forward last week by removing quarantine for visitors from many countries, but we still need a solution that safely allows passengers to travel to and from higher-risk countries," Heathrow chief executive officer John Holland-Kaye said in a statement.

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said in Parliament last week that the government was in touch with Swissport and will consider backing the plan for a trial.

The PCR or polymerase chain reaction test would cost about £150 (S$261) and has been recognised as effective by Britain's National Health Service, according to a Heathrow spokesman.

Britain last Friday announced the lifting of the 14-day self-isolation rule for passengers arriving from 74 territories including most of Europe and long-haul locations including Australia, Japan and Hong Kong. Places which continue to have a high incidence of Covid-19 cases were excluded, the US among them.

The International Air Transport Association has cited a passenger survey as indicating that the UK quarantine is as off-putting for would-be travellers as the pandemic itself. Airlines and leisure firms serving Britain have said the restrictions have prevented them from making the best of the disrupted summer season as lockdowns ease.

Heathrow has cut 500 management posts and begun talks about departures among its 5,500 frontline workers.

Zurich-based Swissport had said last month that it planned to cut 4,500 jobs in Britain as the world's biggest provider of airport handling services responded to a collapse in demand for travel.

BLOOMBERG

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 08, 2020, with the headline Heathrow to trial tests letting people skip quarantine. Subscribe