Travelling from Pakistan to UK

With regards to my previous post travelling from UK to Pakistan now it’s time to return back. I needed to get same negative covid swab PCR 72 hours before travelling, I got mine done from Shaukat Khanum Hospital drive-thru service Johar town. It cost me 6500 rs and got my results next day. Point to note is you would not need any certificate but negative test results only. You need to book a test slot in advance.

Secondly, as I said in my last post keep yourself updated with new changes all the time. While I was away UK policy regarding travellers changed on 15-02-21. They have put some countries on red list/ ban list (you can check list on gov.uk site). That means people who have been to these countries within last 10 days before coming to UK are told not to come or pay for hotel quartentine package before departure which is around 1700 GBP per person for 10 days (again you can check all details on the gov.uk). But fortunately Pakistan was not on that list and fortunately we were travelling via direct flight ! They have added new policy for others as well.As explained below.

These 3 things will be checked before departure and on arrival as well 1.Negatve PCR Covid 2. Passenger Locator form 3. Receipt for Day 2 and 8 tests

Anyone travelling to UK who is not on red list needs to do self isolation at home for 10 days and need to private PCR covid swabs on day 2 and day 8 of self isolation. But you need to pay for these swabs via gov.uk before departure so it cost me 210 for my test kits on day 2 and day 8. I had made online payment and they gave me a reference code which I used to fill out passenger locator form again which is mandatory for all arrivals and can be done via gov.uk .

How day 2 and day 8 swabs are done ? The very next day of our arrival which is day 1 of self isolation , we got a call from Gov employe to tell us all about new policy and to check are we doing alright. and we also got our testing kits sent to us via “Royal Mail” contactless delivery. In the packet they gave all the things needed for self testing, parcel box, pre paid printed labels and a booklet explaining all things.

What do I do after taking swab? Once you have done the swab , you can go to one of the priority “Royal Mail” post box near you (which includes NHS logo on it as well) and post it there maintaining distance and mask on. They will send you your results and a reference code which you need to put on NHS covid app.

You still need to do day 8 test even if your first test is negative. and there is no exemption yet even if you are vaccinated.

You can opt out of quarantine early by test to release scheme on day 5. Meaning on top of these 2 tests you need to do another test on day 5, which I did not opt for.

If at any point you are not feeling well or medical reasons you can go out for that need and if needed seek help. Once you have completed your 10 days and everything remained well , you do not need to do anything additional just get back to normal life.

I hope this gave some information , let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

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