Holidaymakers could be forced to video themselves taking Covid tests

Holidaymakers could be forced to video themselves doing a Covid test after PCR day two tests for double-jabbed travellers are scrapped at the end of next month.

Government officials have started consulting the travel industry over ways to check that holidaymakers returning to England have completed the cheaper lateral flow tests that will replace PCRs in October.

Travel industry sources said it meant holidaymakers would have to do a swab on site at a registered provider or through a video consultation where the traveller completes the test watched by a trained member of the test company’s staff.

“You could have a simple mail order system but the problem is that you have no verification whatsoever. You only have to look at social media to see videos of people faking it,” said a source.

Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, said on Wednesday that the Government aimed to introduce the new testing regime for vaccinated travellers “as quickly as possible” in time for half term at the end of October, but refused to give an exact date.

Airlines UK on Wednesday called for day two PCR tests to be scrapped on October 4, the same date as pre-departure tests are to be axed for double jabbed holidaymakers, so that families could plan for the October half term without any continued uncertainty.

Under the new regime, PCR tests, which cost an average £70 and have to be taken on or before day two back in England, will be replaced by lateral flow tests, which cost around £40, although some companies are charging up to £150.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is expected to set out the conditions that it will require the testing companies to meet in order to prevent holidaymakers from scamming the tests.

This would require verifying the traveller through an ID or passport check, ensuring it is their sample, guaranteeing that the sample goes into a test kit so that it is that person’s result, and that, if positive, a PCR test can be done on the individual for genome sequencing to check for variants.

“It’s up to the industry to come up with solutions,” said a source. While video consultation is one option, another could replicate Gibraltar’s system, under which passengers pay to be swabbed on arrival at the airport, confirm their identity with a QR code and get the result by text 20 minutes later.

Insiders suggested the delay in the scrapping of the PCR tests until the end of October would give the testing industry time to put its systems in place with adequate checks.

Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said the prices of lateral flow tests were still too high. “The providers should not be making huge profit margins on a testing regime that is imposed on consumers by the Government,” he said.

Bosses from Heathrow, Gatwick, British Airways and easyJet this week urged ministers to allow “frictionless” travel without any tests for fully vaccinated travellers in line with other European nations - or risk seeing the UK aviation industry fall further behind their EU rivals.

Mr Shapps told the Transport Committee hearing on Wednesday that he did not have an exact date for when testing restrictions would be lifted, but said his colleagues at the Department of Health are "aware of half term" when families will be wishing to go on holiday.

"They (Department of Health) are aware of half term and are working closely with the private-sector providers to ensure we can do this as quickly as possible,” he said.

Tim Alderslade, Airlines UK chief executive, said: “We’re unclear as to why lateral flow tests can’t be introduced at the same time pre-departure tests are being removed in early-October. This would give clarity for passengers and the reassurance they need to book early ahead of the critical October half-term.”