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A negative Covid test will now be required to enter England from Friday

Passengers will be required to take a test 72 hours before departure

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Ross Parmly / Unsplash & Manchester Airport / Facebook

Travellers must now show evidence of a negative Covid test to enter England.

The rules will be in place for international travellers from 4am on Friday, after the government announced the plans last week. 

Passengers will be required to take a test 72 hours before departure, whether that be by plane, train or ferry, and then provide evidence of a negative result. If this cannot be provided they will be refused permission to board. 

Ministers explain that the move comes as a response to worsening transmission around the world, particularly of the new variants. 

Those arriving in the UK will still be required to isolate for 10 days or opt for the test-to-release programme, which could see arrivals released on the fifth day of a new negative test. 

The transport minister Robert Courts said: “Both globally and domestically we are seeing significant increases in levels of coronavirus, including the emergence of worrying new strains.

“It is therefore imperative that we ensure we are doing all we can to protect travel, reduce the risk of imported infections, including from new variants, and protect our NHS while national lockdown and vaccinations take effect.”

The rule will also apply to British nationals who would need to stay abroad and follow the local rules if they test positive.

Ross Parmly / Unsplash

Passengers found at the border who are non-compliant will be fined at least £500. The Guardian reports that the onus will be on airlines or the transport operator to check for a negative test and deny boarding. 

Children under 11 as well as hauliers and transport operators’ crew will be exempt. 

The measures are likely to be in place until the end of lockdown, but will probably be reviewed before then. 

Chief executive of industry body Airlines UK, Tim Alderslade, said: “This is a national health emergency and ministers need to act to keep the country safe.

“It is true that much of the sector has been lobbying for pre-departure testing – but this was always predicated on the government removing or reducing the quarantine period at the same time. Now we have both.”

He explained that the policy must be a ‘time-limited, emergency measure only’, adding that ‘we cannot afford for this to be baked in over the whole summer’.

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Train fares set to increase again in ‘biggest hike’ for a decade

Bad news for commuters…

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El Pollock / Geograph

Commuters could be facing the steepest rise in the cost of train travel in more than a decade just months after prices were already increased.

It has been predicted today that train prices across England and Wales could rise by nearly 5% before the New Year.

The 2021 rise in prices was delayed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic when train travel was at an all-time low, however, tickets still saw a price rise of 2.6% in March.

Abhijit Tembhekar / Flickr

And this morning, the Retail Prices Index for July 2021 was confirmed as 3.8% by the Office for National Statistics, meaning passengers could see fares rise by 4.8% in 2022, which would be the largest hike since 2012.  

This means that the cost of rail travel could increase twice within ten months, and would see a Manchester-Glasgow off-peak return rise by £6.30 to £94.90, according to Metro.

Though all hope isn’t yet gone – changes to the fares in 2022 are still yet to be confirmed.

Jon David Houghton / Wikimedia Commons

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “No decision has been made on national rail fares.

“The government is considering a variety of options and we will announce our decision in due course.”

This news has come as train travel in Manchester and beyond is on the rise – earlier this month, we reported that zero cases of Covid were found in Manchester Piccadilly Train Station, despite thousands of commuters using the station’s services as offices reopen.

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Comedian Sean Lock has died aged 58

Awful news just in

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Channel 4

Comedian Sean Lock has passed away at the age of fifty-eight after a battle with cancer, his agent has confirmed today.

A statement from his agent from Off The Kerb Productions said: “It is with great sadness that we have to announce the death of Sean Lock. He died at home from cancer, surrounded by his family.

“Sean was one of Britain’s finest comedians, his boundless creativity, lightning wit and the absurdist brilliance of his work, marked him out as a unique voice in British comedy.

“Sean was also a cherished husband and father to three children. Sean will be sorely missed by all that knew him. We kindly request that the privacy of his family and children is respected at this difficult time.”

Fellow comedians have been posting their own tribute messages since the news was announced. Ricky Gervais wrote: “Such sad news. RIP the great Sean Lock. One of the funniest, most influential comedians of a generation. A lovely man.”

John Bishop posted: “I am shocked and saddened at the news of the loss of Sean Lock. He was a brilliant comedian but more importantly he was a great person on so many levels . He will be missed hugely.”

Sean was best known for his role on Channel 4’s comedy panel show, 8 Out of 10 Cats, where he was panel captain. He appeared on the first eighteen series, opposite team captains including Jason Manford and Jon Richardson.

He also appeared on QI, The Last Leg, Have I Got News for You, and The Big Fat Quiz of the Year.

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UK to welcome more than 20,000 refugees following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan

Reports claim that a number of these refugees will be housed in hotels near Manchester Airport

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Jan Chipcase / Wikimedia Commons

The UK is set to welcome more than 20,000 refugees from Afghanistan following the Taliban’s takeover of the country.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that 5,000 people will be eligible to be resettled in Britain during the first year of the program, with women and girls given priority status, with the rest to be admitted in the ‘long term’.

Those deemed to be at the highest risk of human rights abuses and dehumanising treatment by the Taliban will also be given priority for settlement. 

The Prime Minister, who will address MPs today on the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan, said: “We owe a debt of gratitude to all those who have worked with us to make Afghanistan a better place over the last twenty years.

“Many of them, particularly women, are now in urgent need of our help. I am proud that the UK has been able to put in place this route to help them and their families live safely in the UK.”

Manchester council leader Sir Richard Leese added that planes carrying people from Afghanistan are expected to land here in Manchester ‘at any moment.’

He said: “They’re on their way. We’re expecting planes to be landing at any moment. We’re certainly not going to turn our back on those people.

“But what we are going to do is to continue to make the case that actually, if we’re really a caring country, we need to make sure we put the proper resources and systems in to be able to support these people very quickly, get them out of hotels and get them into homes.

“We’re definitely not going to be refusing to take people, but we will continue to make the case for proper support.”

Following the departure of American troops on Sunday, the Taliban took over Afghanistan’s capital city Kabul, almost two decades after they were initially defeated by the US. The Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, abandoning the presidential palace to Taliban fighters.

Under the Taliban’s rule, Sharia Law, women and girls are stripped of most basic human rights, including the right to have an education, work, and leave the house without a male relative. While the Taliban have promised to take a more modern approach to their ruling, concern for the safety and wellbeing of Afghan women and girls is still rife.

For more information on how you can help the refugees fleeing Afghanistan, visit the following links:

British Red Cross
UNICEF
AllWeCan.org
United Nation Refugee Agency 
Refugee Council

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