Heathrow unveils new testing facility

London, August 19

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The UK’s Heathrow airport, one of the world’s busiest hub airports, on Wednesday unveiled a new Covid testing facility which it hopes will help cut down the compulsory 14-day quarantine period currently required for travellers into the UK from most countries.

Under the new plans, passengers arriving into Heathrow in south-west London will be able to book swab tests and have results sent to them within seven hours. Travellers can do a second test at home a few days later and then leave quarantine early if they pass both checks.

“We are working with Heathrow and other airports on this project,” UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock told ‘Sky News’. “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,” he said.

“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,” he added. — PTI

Report within 7 hrs

• Under the new plans, passengers arriving into Heathrow in south-west London will be able to book swab tests and have results sent to them within seven hours.
• Travellers can do a second test at home a few days later and then leave quarantine early if they pass both checks.