PASSPORTS, PLEASE

AS THE HOME OFFICE BEGINS PHASING OUT THE EU-STYLE BURGUNDY PASSPORT AND REINTRODUCING THE CLASSIC BLUE VERSION, WE GET THE LOWDOWN ON PASSPORTS AROUND THE WORLD. WORDS: NORA WALLAYA

doesn’t need a passport or any ID to travel, as UK passports are all issued in her name. The rest of the Royal Family

must have one

“Testing and more testing is the only solution to giving people confidence and getting them moving again,” says Paul Charles, CEO of The PC Agency travel consultancy. A spokesperson for this summer’s effective Quash Quarantine campaign,

Charles is also part of the new Test4Travel campaign; a recent poll it conducted suggested that the majority of the British public (62%) would prefer testing on arrival at ports and airports, rather than quarantine for 14 days upon return. More than half said they’d be prepared to cover the cost of the test themselves — a small investment compared to the high price of having to rebook flights and hotels and losing working hours.

“Testing enables travellers to book a trip and be reassured that others around them, on the same flight or cruise for example, are coronavirus-free as well,” continues Charles. “Successful

To many observers, it seems apparent that quarantine in the UK isn’t working — for those who comply, it can be overly restrictive, while others simply ignore it. But with infection numbers rising worldwide, the government remains, for now, on the side of quarantine, pointing to the fact that testing isn’t infallible. False negative results are a valid concern, possible when the virus is incubating and contagious but not detectable. But with airport testing in place at destinations across Europe and beyond, and the likes of Italy offering rapid antigen tests that produce results within 30 minutes, the UK lags well behind a test-and-trace approach to travel.

“Heathrow’s traffic figures for August demonstrate the extent to which quarantine is strangling the economy,” says the airport’s chief executive officer John Holland-Kaye. “It’s

It may seem that the Italian system is the answer, but one test alone won’t catch someone who’s incubating the virus. Heathrow has trialled several test solutions, including its polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing-on-arrival scheme, with a test facility unveiled at the airport in mid-August. Subject to government approval, this could provide passengers arriving from countries with higher infection rates with a reduced quarantine period if they test negative for coronavirus twice during a two-stage process. The airport has also launched pre-departure rapid-testing facilities for travellers to Hong Kong and Italy, both of which require passengers to provide a negative coronavirus test result prior to departure.

For the latest travel restrictions and requirements, visit gov.uk

The WTTC advocates a ‘traffic light’ system of reporting infection rates in different destinations.

Results could reduce the quarantine period from 14 days to between four

and six, or none at all.

From December, the UK government’s ‘test-andrelease’ scheme could allow arrivals to take a PCR test after a week, which, if negative, would halve the 14-day quarantine period.