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Covid restrictions abroad: updates & observations

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Bikeman78

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There were no fusses about being double or triple vaccinated and the isolation periods to go along with that in 2020.
That's my point. It was okay to travel unvaccinated, with the risk that entailed. With most people vaccinated, the risk to individuals and the population in general is much lower. A few unvaccinated tourists are not going to overwhelm the hospitals in France or Spain. The argument that it keeps out variants doesn't work either. Omicron was already in the UK before I'd even heard of it.
 
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nw1

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There were no fusses about being double or triple vaccinated and the isolation periods to go along with that in 2020.

Ironic, given 2020 was earlier on in the crisis and one might think things were more serious then.
 

Butts

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Now Ireland have withdrawn the PCR on entry requirement I am dipping my toe back in the water with an outing to Dublin this weekend from EDI via LHR on BA for a couple of days.

What is the current situation with regard to entering eateries et al - is the NHS Scotland scannable Vaccination Certificate acceptable ?
 

island

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Now Ireland have withdrawn the PCR on entry requirement I am dipping my toe back in the water with an outing to Dublin this weekend from EDI via LHR on BA for a couple of days.

What is the current situation with regard to entering eateries et al - is the NHS Scotland scannable Vaccination Certificate acceptable ?
Ireland hasn't had a PCR test requirement for vaccinated travellers for many months, I believe since last July.

Check your certificate at https://app.digitalcovidcertchecker.gov.ie/ – be aware most places require ID to prevent sharing of certificates.
 

berneyarms

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Now Ireland have withdrawn the PCR on entry requirement I am dipping my toe back in the water with an outing to Dublin this weekend from EDI via LHR on BA for a couple of days.

What is the current situation with regard to entering eateries et al - is the NHS Scotland scannable Vaccination Certificate acceptable ?
Be aware that all pubs/restaurants are closing at 20:00 here in Ireland - not much to do after that.

The restriction should be lifted at the end of the month if you want to wait!
 

Butts

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Be aware that all pubs/restaurants are closing at 20:00 here in Ireland - not much to do after that.

The restriction should be lifted at the end of the month if you want to wait!

Thanks for the tip - it's only a two day sojourn and I am staying at the Holiday Inn by Dublin Airport which has a free shuttle.

I may not venture into the City at all.

Just going for a break and to pick up some Duty Free along the way.

I have my NHS Scotland Vaccination Certificate so should be okay.

On my Irish PLF I didn't enter my Passport Number as this is not compulsory for UK Citizens.
 

Mag_seven

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France has reopened for UK tourists but a negative test result and proof of vaccination still required so its not quite back to normal yet.


France will relax its restrictions for those travelling from the UK from Friday, the government has announced.
Vaccinated travellers will no longer need a compelling reason to enter France, and will not have to self-isolate when they arrive.
But a negative Covid test, taken 24 hours before leaving the UK, will still be required for all those arriving.
 

Cdd89

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I was trying to find the requirements for the negative LFT test (in person only, video supervised ok, or just photo confirmed?); unsuccessfully so far.

Edit: here is the statement on the topic:
N.B. Self-administered tests whose results are not certified by a laboratory (e.g. free tests provided by the NHS) are not authorized for travel. The NHS has stated that it will not carry out any tests for the purposes of travel. People should therefore use private organizations providing a similar service

So sounds like one of the photo confirmed services would be fine. That makes it easier.
 
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island

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I was trying to find the requirements for the negative LFT test (in person only, video supervised ok, or just photo confirmed?); unsuccessfully so far.

Edit: here is the statement on the topic:


So sounds like one of the photo confirmed services would be fine. That makes it easier.
I run a Disneyland Paris Facebook group and can confirm from very extensive reports that the French authorities will accept anything that looks like a negative test certificate unless it's from the NHS. They do not enquire in any way into where or by whom tests were conducted.
 

nw1

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I run a Disneyland Paris Facebook group and can confirm from very extensive reports that the French authorities will accept anything that looks like a negative test certificate unless it's from the NHS. They do not enquire in any way into where or by whom tests were conducted.

Interesting they won't accept NHS certificates; does/should France care? It's our own government who might be concerned about that as it's them paying for it.
 
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Here's one I haven't seen discussed here (at least not recently). Is it ever likely that you will be able to get on a plane again without a mask and without having to show or declare an exemption?

If so how far away from it are we?
 

Butts

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Here's one I haven't seen discussed here (at least not recently). Is it ever likely that you will be able to get on a plane again without a mask and without having to show or declare an exemption?

If so how far away from it are we?

Last Autumn a number of Scandinavian Airlines withdrew the requirement on Domestic Flights - not sure if they were reintroduced with the advent of Omicron.

I would imagine Private Charters would be another area where this may occur.
 

island

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What if you enter France from the UK via a third country e.g. Germany?
The requirement is based on a “journey beginning in the UK”, so if one stays in Germany for long enough, which isn’t defined, one is instead making a journey from Germany.

I am aware of a number of travellers resident in Northern Ireland who were not challenged when travelling from Dublin to France. Their Irish passports are likely to have helped.
 

yorkie

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Day 2 arrivals tests - for those fully-jabbed - to be dropped for #UK arrivals by end of January it appears. Dropping all tests for the fully-jabbed will boost confidence further and save travellers from high test costs; I hope the Passenger Locator Form goes too. @ThePCAgency
This sounds promising. The locator form is a bit of a pain, so it would be great if that goes too, but it's the tests I want to go more than anything.
 

Berliner

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Do they mean all of the UK or will we see seperate regimes in the devolved countries?

The locator form will probably stay as it's the least obtrusive thing out of all of this and still let's them track down potential cases. Until we drop isolation for the perfectly healthy and track and trace, I can't see the PLF going anywhere. It is good that testing after arrival is to be scrapped. It's nothing more than a money making machine as it achieves nothing when you can easily go without actually doing it. A friend of mine came back from overseas in November and still has his day 2 test in a drawer somewhere. No one has ever asked for it.
 

danm14

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This sounds promising. The locator form is a bit of a pain, so it would be great if that goes too, but it's the tests I want to go more than anything.
While promising, the questions I would be asking are:

Will "fully vaccinated" be redefined as three doses?

And if yes, will there be three tiers of travel restrictions; or will people who have received two doses be considered wholly unvaccinated and barred from foreign travel (other than to Ireland) unless they can afford to quarantine on return?
 
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Cdd89

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Until we drop isolation for the perfectly healthy and track and trace, I can't see the PLF going anywhere
The form no longer asks for your seat number (merely your cabin) so I suspect it isn’t really useful for that either anymore.
 

island

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Do they mean all of the UK or will we see seperate regimes in the devolved countries?
The devolved nations must make their own decisions but to date have mostly followed England with a few trivial changes to "prove" they aren't beholden to England, for example those needing a pre-departure test for Wales need to take it in the 48 hours before travel rather than any time on the 2 calendar days as is the case for England, the age cut-off for day 2 tests in Scotland is different, etc.
The locator form will probably stay as it's the least obtrusive thing out of all of this and still let's them track down potential cases.
Yes I think so.
Until we drop isolation for the perfectly healthy and track and trace, I can't see the PLF going anywhere. It is good that testing after arrival is to be scrapped. It's nothing more than a money making machine as it achieves nothing when you can easily go without actually doing it. A friend of mine came back from overseas in November and still has his day 2 test in a drawer somewhere. No one has ever asked for it.
Post-arrival testing would be of some use in slowing down imported variants if it was done properly, which it isn't. The short-lived "isolate pending test result" rule only served to drum up business for "premium rapid PCR tests" with 3 or 5 hour result for triple the normal price.

While promising, the questions I would be asking are:

Will "fully vaccinated" be redefined as three doses?
Probably.
And if yes, will there be three tiers of travel restrictions; or will people who have received two doses be considered wholly unvaccinated and barred from foreign travel (other than to Ireland) unless they can afford to quarantine on return?
By way of complete guesswork, I would speculate the day 2 test could remain in place for those double-vaccinated and abolished if you're boosted.
 

LAX54

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Here's one I haven't seen discussed here (at least not recently). Is it ever likely that you will be able to get on a plane again without a mask and without having to show or declare an exemption?

If so how far away from it are we?
It has to end fairly soon, as each day goes by, another scientist / expert now says, that unless you wear an N95 / KN95 or similar, they don't do much good, and the cloth ones, purely just meet 'wearing a mask requirements' ! I thought Aircraft had Hepa Filters that got rid of the virus (and other nasties) anyway ?
 

island

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Here's one I haven't seen discussed here (at least not recently). Is it ever likely that you will be able to get on a plane again without a mask and without having to show or declare an exemption?

If so how far away from it are we?
I'd say that point is years away rather than months.
 

Cdd89

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I expect that, at some point, U.K. airlines will make masks route-by-route (depending on the stricter country’s requirements). This will probably be after masks are no longer encouraged by operators on busy domestic public transport (as flights wouldn’t want to be the anomaly).
 

Mintona

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Here's one I haven't seen discussed here (at least not recently). Is it ever likely that you will be able to get on a plane again without a mask and without having to show or declare an exemption?

If so how far away from it are we?

I think it’s likely that that will never happen.

I’ve been looking into visiting some European countries this evening. Some of the mask rules seem very onerous. In Italy you have to wear a mask at all times in public, in Spain and Portugal is similar, and in Greece you have to wear two masks on public transport and some other places, and one of them must be an FFP2. Hardly feels conducive to a relaxing holiday.
 

superalbs

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I think it’s likely that that will never happen.

I’ve been looking into visiting some European countries this evening. Some of the mask rules seem very onerous. In Italy you have to wear a mask at all times in public, in Spain and Portugal is similar, and in Greece you have to wear two masks on public transport and some other places, and one of them must be an FFP2. Hardly feels conducive to a relaxing holiday.
I believe it is two regular masks (of which one must be a surgical blue one), OR an FFP2 equivalent.

Still utterly pathetic.
 

Butts

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I think it’s likely that that will never happen.

I’ve been looking into visiting some European countries this evening. Some of the mask rules seem very onerous. In Italy you have to wear a mask at all times in public, in Spain and Portugal is similar, and in Greece you have to wear two masks on public transport and some other places, and one of them must be an FFP2. Hardly feels conducive to a relaxing holiday.

What you are supposed to do and what actually happens are often completely different - just think of here Tube etc.

I was in Greece late last year and people were certainly not wearing two masks then - is that new ?

With regard to Italy you don't have to wear a mask if you are smoking - handy for the few of us left :E
 

Butts

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I think it’s likely that that will never happen.

I’ve been looking into visiting some European countries this evening. Some of the mask rules seem very onerous. In Italy you have to wear a mask at all times in public, in Spain and Portugal is similar, and in Greece you have to wear two masks on public transport and some other places, and one of them must be an FFP2. Hardly feels conducive to a relaxing holiday.

It already has see the post above yours !!
 

Mintona

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What you are supposed to do and what actually happens are often completely different - just think of here Tube etc.

I was in Greece late last year and people were certainly not wearing two masks then - is that new ?

With regard to Italy you don't have to wear a mask if you are smoking - handy for the few of us left :E

It’s on the foreign office website for travelling in Greece, I have no better frame of reference. Not sure when the rule was brought in, but wearing two face masks outside in the heat of Greece in summer doesn’t sound overly appealing.

Having reread the site I can see that it is two masks (at least one of which must be surgical) or an FFP2, apologies for the confusion in the previous post.

It already has see the post above yours !!

Maybe, but for international travel I can see it being in place forever.
 
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