Travel tests for double jabbed holidaymakers set to be axed as soon as Monday

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The Covid traveller testing system could be ditched for fully vaccinated holidaymakers as soon as Monday.

It is understood the rapid lateral flow test that double-jabbed arrivals must take by day two is likely to be ditched when ministers meet to discuss the rules.

The passenger locator form that holidaymakers must complete online before travelling to the UK could also be simplified.

The form has to be filled out within 48 hours of arriving in Britain but passengers have complained that it is cumbersome and asks pointless questions, such as how long returning citizens plan to stay in the country.

A meeting of the Cabinet’s ‘Covid O’ committee will also discuss whether ‘fully vaccinated’ status for travellers should mean having two or three jabs. 

Ministers are understood to be considering keeping it as two until spring.

At this point, double-jabbed travellers could again become subject to needing tests and only those with a booster would be able to travel test-free.

However, destination countries may still require testing.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is understood to be pushing for the removal of all testing for the fully vaccinated.

Scrapping the day two test would give the hard-hit travel industry another boost after the Government scrapped pre-return tests and costly post-arrival PCR swabs earlier this month.

As it stands, returning double-jabbed Britons must take one rapid lateral flow test by day two. If positive, they must take a confirmatory PCR test.

Unvaccinated travellers will remain subject to multiple tests and self-isolation. It came as new scientific analysis found that travel tests have no effect in stemming the spread of imported Covid variants unless the measures are brought in within a day of the strain first being brought into the country.