London, March 18 (Prensa Latina) The United Kingdom today lifted all international travel restrictions due to Covid-19, including tests and passenger location forms, despite a reported uptick in infections in the country.
The decision also covers people not vaccinated against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, who until now were required to submit a negative result to a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, and undergo another on the second day of their discharge. arrival in the country.
According to Transport Minister Grant Shapps, the lifting of all restrictions is aimed at making it easier for people to move ahead of the Easter holidays in April.
The head of Health, Sajid Javid, said, for his part, that the decision was made due to the success of the vaccination campaign in the United Kingdom, where so far, 49.2 million people, equivalent to 85.6 percent of the population older than 12 years received the recommended doses.
Of that number, 67.1 percent also received a third booster dose.
Although both ministers assured that the government has prepared contingency plans that would be activated immediately in case the arrival of a new variant of the virus is detected, the National Statistics Office (ONS) warned of a domestic outbreak.
According to the official entity, positive cases increased by 43.9 percent throughout the country in the last seven days, when 534,747 new infections and another 740 deaths from the disease were confirmed.
The number of hospitalized Covid-19 patients also increased during the week, with 14,078 people admitted, the ONS added.
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