UK's Covid travel rules to be scrapped this week - including passenger locator forms

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

All of the UK's remaining Covid travel measures including passenger locator forms will be scrapped on Friday, the transport secretary has said.

Grant Shapps announced on Monday, March 14, that the changes will make foreign holidays easier despite coronavirus cases rising in the UK. Other measures that will be scrapped include the requirement for unvaccinated people to be tested for Covid-19 before entering the UK.

Mr Shapps said that the scrapping of measures will "mean greater freedom in time for Easter" as schools across the country will soon be entering the spring half-term. The measures for travel will end from 4am on Friday and the move is part of the government's plans for "living with Covid".

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Mr Shapps tweeted: "All remaining Covid travel measures, including the Passenger Locator Form and tests for all arrivals, will be stood down for travel to the UK from 4am on 18 March.

“These changes are possible due to our vaccine rollout and mean greater freedom in time for Easter.”

It comes as coronavirus infections are on the rise in all four of the UK's nations for the first time since the end of January, with levels in Scotland already reaching record-high levels, according to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics.

Furthermore, the numbers for hospital patients with Covid has also seen a steady increase, rising 19 per cent week-on-week in England. Hospital admissions with coronavirus in England still remain far below the peaks reached during the emergence of the Omicron variant and other previous waves of the virus.

Passenger locator forms have been a mandatory requirement for travellers to input their details,