Airport services firm Swissport and management services
provider Collinson have partnered to propose offering a test for coronavirus to
people entering the UK from overseas in order for them to avoid having to
quarantine for 14 days on arrival.
Under the plan, all travellers would be offered a £140 polymerase
chain reaction (PCR) saliva test, which Swissport says is up to NHS hospital standards.
The test would be performed at a medical facility close to the airport terminal, with results available within seven to 24 hours, and travellers would then be required to go home or to a hotel to self-isolate.
However, if their test comes back negative, they
would be allowed to end their quarantine early as long as they abide by current
social distancing and lockdown restrictions. Those who test positive would have
to contact the government’s test-and-trace service and complete the two-week
self-isolation period.
Swissport and Collinson have yet to disclose which airport they
have proposed for testing the measures, only that they are looking at a major
hub. The firms have approached the government with their plan for a trial, with
Swissport’s Western Europe CEO Jason Holt telling the BBC’s Today programme it
has been designed to give passengers “confidence they can travel and not be
quarantined when they come back even if they’re not carrying the virus”.
Other European countries have started offering coronavirus
testing in some cases to allow travellers to avoid quarantine, including
Denmark, where anyone taking a foreign business trip can request a test both
before departing and on their return.
The proposal from Collinson and Swissport comes as it is
rumoured the UK government will be announcing new travel corridors it has established
with up to ten EU destinations this week, ahead of the first official review of
the quarantine measures on 29 June. According to reports, the travel corridors
or air bridges would go into effect from 4 July, allowing people arriving from
those ten countries to enter the UK without needing to self-isolate.