Fully vaccinated travellers heading to England will no longer have to take a COVID-19 test before they travel.
Confirming the decision, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said travellers will instead take a rapid lateral flow test rather than a PCR test once they arrive.
"In England, from 4:00 am on Friday, we will be scrapping a pre-departure test which discourages many from travelling for fear of being trapped overseas and incurring significant extra expense," he told lawmakers.
"We will also be lifting the requirement to self isolate on arrival until receipt of a negative PCR," he said, adding that arrivals would instead need to do a rapid lateral flow test, and then only take a PCR if the lateral flow was positive.
"Anyone who receives a positive result on their lateral flow test must self-isolate immediately and order a NHS PCR test from gov.uk," the UK government guideline added.
Meanwhile, unvaccinated travellers must take PCR tests on day two and day eight after arriving, and self-isolate for 10 days.
The US military said on Monday it destroyed six Iranian small boats and intercepted Iranian cruise missiles and drones as Tehran sought to thwart a new US naval effort to open shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
A blast at a fireworks factory in China has killed at least 26 people and injured 61, flattening buildings and sending towering clouds of smoke into the sky, and prompting President Xi Jinping to order a thorough investigation, state media reported on Tuesday.
A Russian overnight missile and drone attack on Ukrainian gas production facilities killed five people, including two rescue workers, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday, as Kyiv and Moscow exchanged rival ceasefire proposals.
Two cases of the deadly hantavirus have been confirmed, and five more are suspected among people who were on a luxury cruise ship now held in the Atlantic near Cape Verde, the World Health Organisation said in its most detailed update on the outbreak.
President Vladimir Putin has declared on Monday a two-day ceasefire in the conflict with Ukraine on May 8-9 to mark Russia’s World War Two victory, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy countered with his own proposed pause in fighting starting earlier, on the night of May 5‑6.
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