UK arrivals to be tested for Covid 'as soon as practical', says Matt Hancock

Matt Hancock today insisted coronavirus testing for arrivals in the UK will be introduced 'as soon as it is practical'. During an LBC radio phone-in today, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the government recognised how much strain 14-day quarantine was putting on the travel industry Airport chief executives claimed testing, alongside other measures, could save 110,000 jobs industry-wide. Led by Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith, conservative chair of the Airport Operators' Association, the signatories stressed that testing, along with regional travel corridors, were critical to opening up travel Bosses from Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham and Luton set the Prime Minister a seven-day deadline to replace mandatory self-isolation with Covid-19 testing on arrival There is growing frustration at the Prime Minister's insistence that a single test on arrival would only detect 7 per cent of coronavirus cases Travellers from seven Greek islands including Crete and Mykonos have until 4am on WEDNESDAY to get back to the UK Grant Shapps today announced that seven Greek islands are being stripped of quarantine exempt status amid fears over a spike in coronavirus cases. Public health experts and industry leaders have accused Boris Johnson and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps of ignoring an official Sage science advisers' report showing tests five days after arrival will detect 85 per cent of cases and 96 per cent after eight days. As many as 40 Tory MPs are preparing to rebel against 14-day quarantine ahead of a Commons debate on aviation on Thursday.Asked if the quarantine time could be cut to eight days, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the BBC's Andrew Maar Show: 'The direction of travel will be making sure we have the capacity and the ability for when the time is right to ease up on the self-isolation at home, and that's certainly something that we'll be looking at.'