Covid: Welsh government considers green-lighting private PCR tests

September 2021 | Reading time: 3 minutes

Welsh ministers are reassessing their policy of travellers being able to use only NHS tests on return to Wales.

According to the government’s mandate, travellers are banned from obtaining the services of private PCR test providers when returning to Wales.

Per Welsh rules, returnees must use tests provided by the NHS to check for COVID-19 or face fines of up to £1000.

In July, Mark Drakeford, the First Minister of Wales, had stated that the government had ‘no plans’ to reverse the policy.

He had said: ‘I don’t intend to divert the activities of my officials into making it easier for people to do something that the Welsh government so clearly thinks is unadvisable.’

As for why the costly NHS tests were the government’s sole choice, the first minister mentioned that these tests had the highest chances of swiftly detecting foreign variants.

However, according to the statements of a spokesperson of the Welsh government, this existing policy is currently under review.

Calls for update to Welsh PCR testing rules

On the previous week, UK government Wales Office minister David TC Davies had urged Wales’ Labour government to update the rule, so travellers had more PCR test options to ‘shop around’.

According to him, ‘No-one is allowed to break the rules. Although I’m not happy with the situation in Wales, people have to follow Welsh rules.’

Earlier, Mr Davies had said that the government of Wales must acknowledge that ‘people have a right to go on holiday and they have not got the right to try to make it difficult’.

He further added, ‘They should allow people to have exactly the same access to cheaper private providers as the UK government quite rightly do in England.’

‘All of the results are fed into the NHS anyway and test, track and trace kick in England if you have a positive test, that’s the whole purpose for having it.’

Wales is presently the only nation in the UK to require returning travellers to use NHS COVID-19 tests for the mandatory PCR tests to be taken on Day 2 and Day 8 of their arrival.

Who must take PCR tests on returning to Wales?

• With a few exemptions, anyone over the age of 11 who is travelling to Wales from abroad must produce evidence of a negative COVID-19 test beforehand.
• Everyone aged 5 and over, to whom the testing requirements apply, must have the post-return tests booked before travelling back to Wales.
• People arriving from green list countries need only take the Day 2 PCR tests.
• Fully vaccinated travellers who are coming to Wales from amber list countries also need to take only the Day 2 PCR tests.
• Travellers returning from amber list countries who are not fully vaccinated are required to do Day 2 and Day 8 PCR tests and quarantine for ten days. They are liable to pre-book the tests or face penalties.
• Red list country arrivals must enter Wales through designated entry ports in England or Scotland. They must take Day 2 and Day 8 PCR tests and quarantine in a government-approved hotel.

Among all kinds of COVID-19 tests for travel, VIVO Clinic offers in-clinic Day 2 and Day 8 PCR tests at multiple locations all over the UK, as well as at-home Day 2 and Day 8 PCR tests.