United Kingdom gets its first pre-flight COVID-19 testing facility at Heathrow Airport

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread across the globe, the importance of pre-flight rapid testing has increased while keeping in mind the safety of the crew as well as the passengers who are travelling from one destination to another. The United Kingdom has got its first rapid pre-flight COVID-19 testing facilities at the popular Heathrow Airport in London on October 20, 2020. The rapid test it not going to be free and the passengers will have to shell out £80 to get a COVID-19 test result within 60 minutes.

The progress was announced by the service providers Collinson and Swissport in a statement on October 20, 2020. The statement has informed that the new testing facilities have been located at the terminal 2 and 5 which will initially supply Oxford Lamp COVID-19tests for the passengers who have to travel to the destinations that need a pre-departure test which is mandatory for the local governments including Italy and Hong Kong.

The facilities that have been added to the airport terminals will in future also add a number of other kinds of tests like the antigen test. This is for the reason that the governments across the globe are npw accepting a wide range of tests methods as an alternative towards the travel restrictions and quarantine policies. The airlines like Cathay Pacific, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic will be offering its passengers with the rapid tests.

For the initial days, the testing centres will be open for four weeks and will monitor passengers as per the airline demand. A number of countries these days are recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. As the number of infections reduce in majority of the nations, the respective governments are implementing strict measures and policies while they are allowing people in to their countries. After the United Kingdom more nations are expected to follow the suit and will also begin testing centres at airports.

Photo Credits: Pixabay