Government working with Heathrow on coronavirus testing
Health secretary Matt Hancock said the government is working with Heathrow Airport on its plan to roll out testing of passengers to help end the two week quarantine for international travellers.
The airport is reportedly planning to test passengers to help allow them avoid the 14-day quarantine for travellers arriving in the UK from countries deemed at risk.
Passengers will be able to book coronavirus tests and have the results sent to them in seven hours, the Daily Mail reported.
Those testing negative could leave quarantine within five-to-eight days the report said.
The coronavirus tests would be booked online and cost £150 per passenger.
Passengers can do a second test at home a few days later and escape quarantine early if they test negative both times, the report said.
Iceland and Germany are using similar double testing programmes.
Hancock told Sky News that the government was co-operating on this and similar projects: “We are working with Heathrow and other airports on this project.
“The challenge is – because the virus can incubate inside your body without coming forward and without therefore a test being positive even if you’ve got it – the challenge is how to do that testing in a way that we can have confidence enough to release the quarantine.
“It is absolutely a project that we are working with Heathrow on.
“I clearly understand the impact of quarantine on so many people’s lives. It is not something anybody would want to do.
“So I hope that this project can bear fruit.”