What are the rules if I get pinged by NHS after a passenger on my flight tests positive for Covid?
Simon Calder answers your questions on the test and trace risk from flying, travelling to Spain and taking an inter-city train on the August bank holiday weekend
Q I have been contacted by NHS Test and Trace and told to self-isolate for the next week because someone on my plane from Greece to the UK has tested positive for coronavirus. The plane was half-empty, and everyone on the flight must have completed a negative test before boarding. Maybe travel is opening up, but pinging is going off the scale. Do you know what the rules are, exactly?
Name supplied
A Numerous passengers have contacted me with similar stories. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) says “Although the risk is very low, transmission during a flight cannot be excluded.” Clearly, though, it depends on proximity: an infected person in row 30 is unlikely to present any threat to someone in row one.
Yet the rules used by the UK government appear to err very much on the side of caution. If three or more people test positive after a flight, then everyone on board will be told to self-isolate – even if all three are part of the same family and are sitting next to each other.
If one or two people test positive, then the idea is that anyone in the same cabin, class or section will be required to quarantine.
Unfortunately, on the vast majority of short-haul flights, as operated by easyJet or Ryanair, there are no divisions within the aircraft. Therefore, the rule appears to be that everyone is contacted.
This looks to me like a complete waste of everyone’s time and a serious disincentive to travel: you might be fully vaccinated and visit only “green list” destinations, but if someone on your plane turns out to be infected you are obliged to self-isolate.
Things will change on 16 August, when the rules will be relaxed; fellow passengers of someone who turns out to be positive will still be contacted, but if they are fully vaccinated then they will simply be told to take a PCR test and (assuming it is negative) carry on.
Q I’m already looking ahead to the next traffic light review. I have been fully vaccinated and am hoping to travel to Spain on 21 August to see family for a week. As far as I know, the next review will be during my time there, on 26 August.
Here’s my hypothetical question. Suppose, when I am in Spain, the UK government makes a change to Spain’s status that means I would have to quarantine upon my return to the UK. I know that previously there’s been a short window to allow for travellers to leave before the change comes into effect.
If I can’t find something for a sensible price, what happens if I just got on a flight to any amber or green territory and then travel back from there to the UK? Would I be able to claim legally that I need not quarantine on the grounds that I left Spain before the status change?
Name supplied
A Sadly, no. You might reasonably speculate the test is: “In the past 10 days, have you been in any countries from which quarantine was required at the time you were there?” Instead it is: “What is the current status, at the moment you arrive in the UK, of the countries in which you have been in the past 10 days?”
Suppose while you are in Spain you learn it is to go “amber plus”, requiring quarantine from everyone on arrival if they arrive after 4am on 30 August. The only way to avoid self-isolation is to make it back to the UK by the deadline; or to go somewhere else for 10 full days to expunge your Spain status.
It will be of little comfort, but the converse works well for many travellers. If a country goes green, requiring no quarantine from anyone, that applies even if you were in the country while it was on the amber list.
Of course, three weeks is a very long time in coronavirus-era travel restrictions, so other developments may intervene between now and your much-deserved trip.
Q I’m hoping to send my parents on a much-needed trip to Spain but I’m finding the ever-changing rules endlessly confusing. From what I’ve read, if they’re both double-jabbed, they only need to do a PCR test upon their return to the UK. Is this something they’d be able to organise while they’re out there, or should they arrange it before they go?
Name supplied
A If only travel to our favourite holiday nation were that simple. Proof of vaccination will certainly ease their trip to Spain, since either the NHS app or Covid pass letter means they need not take a test to enter. But they must first access the Spanish government’s “aerial website” spth.gob.es and complete a health control form for Spain. For the avoidance of doubt, no tests are needed to board a plane from the UK.
Having arrived in Spain, the logistical problems are only just beginning, I’m afraid. The bureaucracy for returning to the UK is daunting. They will need to organise a lateral flow “test to fly” to be taken on the day of departure or one of the previous three days. (It must be a private test, not an NHS one they have taken abroad.)
Next, they will need to pre-book a private post-arrival PCR test for the day of their return or one of the two following days. While they (or you) could organise this in advance, I recommend waiting until the day before departure. There is nothing to be gained by booking earlier; were the rules to change (eg to dispense with this largely useless PCR test) it is beneficial not to be committed.
Assuming the rules stay as they are, the booking reference for the PCR test will allow them to complete the infuriatingly complicated UK passenger locator form. When they have finally completed it, they should get an email from the government – which will be checked on departure from Spain and possibly on arrival back home.
Despite the gruelling and expensive requirements for returning to the UK, almost everyone I talk to who has recently returned says their escape to the sun was worthwhile.
Q What’s happening to trains between London to Manchester over the bank holiday weekend? Why can’t I buy a ticket? Have they sold out?
Heirloom Rose
A Avanti West Coast, which runs trains on the West Coast Main Line, including between London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly, is not having a great August. Until 30 August, the train operator says: “Avanti West Coast timetables are amended to manage staff shortages and ensure a reliable service, so you can travel with confidence.”
Instead of the usual three trains per hour, there is “one train per hour to Manchester calling at Milton Keynes, Stoke-on-Trent, Macclesfield and Stockport” – plus extra trains “on Fridays during selected hours between 10am and 6pm”. Avanti West Coast says: “We strongly recommend you book a place on your preferred service and only travel on that train.”
But as you have found, that is not possible – because engineering work is rearing its disruptive head. While rail use is much higher at weekends than during the week, big rail projects are still locked into the idea that weekends are quieter. In particular, August bank holiday has long been regarded as a great time to carry out engineering work because passenger numbers are so low. Almost unbelievably, the London-Manchester timetable between Saturday 28 and Monday 30 August will not be revealed until 20 August.
A spokesperson for Network Rail told me things may change by next summer: “Travel patterns have obviously shifted over the past year or so and we will carefully monitor how this evolves as restrictions ease and more people return to workplaces. Our approach to scheduling works will be based on this longer-term picture.”
Until then, the best I can advise is that you sign up for an advance travel alert with Avanti West Coast. “Tell us when you’re looking to travel and we’ll email you on the day advance tickets go on sale,” says the train operator.
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