@rob@rar, they are apparently accurate enough now for entry in to Switzerland, Germany, and numerous other countries. But anyway, Boots PCR onsite on a Saturday, results the next day works well enough.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Gämsbock wrote:
@rob@rar, they are apparently accurate enough now for entry in to Switzerland, Germany, and numerous other countries. But anyway, Boots PCR onsite on a Saturday, results the next day works well enough.
Just out of interest, how much for that test? My parents are currently in Spain and will return to the UK in second week of July, so (unless policy changes) will be in the market for these tests.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
@rob@rar, 85 pounds for the Day 5 test to release at Boots.
[ I think it’s mad that these tests aren’t done for free via NHS Test & Trace.
I completely agree!
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
@CaravanSkier, thanks very much. At 99 pounds it’s more expensive and the test centres are further than the nearest Boots but it’s good to have a backup if that doesn’t work out.
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Ski the Net with snowHeads
CaravanSkier wrote:
rob@rar wrote:
[ I think it’s mad that these tests aren’t done for free via NHS Test & Trace.
I completely agree!
Me too - but that’s coming from the logic of what is actually necessary/makes sense/“follows the science“, rather than how can we extract the maximum amount of money from the general public to line the coffers of Boris’s mates…
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
@rob@rar,
Wales use the ctm portal (like scotland), so no cheap backdoor tests like england.
A ‘travel test package’ of NHS tests must be booked before your arrival in Wales via the CTM booking portal.
CTM are the booking agent for NHS Wales Test, Trace, Protect tests which are processed through the UK Lighthouse lab network.
Code:
Wales is using NHS tests, rather than private tests, because they are processed by NHS laboratories and results are sent directly into NHS Wales’ systems. This helps identify any harmful variants and makes contact tracing easier.
Costs for the tests are:
Amber country arrivals - two PCR tests that cost £170 in total.
Green country arrivals – one PCR test that costs £88.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
@Mr.Egg, thanks. I’d forgotten that there might be a difference between England and Wales for these arrangements.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
On a related note, anyone had any experience entering the UK on an antigen test?
You must make sure that the test provider you choose can meet the standards for pre-departure testing.
The test must meet performance standards of ≥97% specificity, ≥80% sensitivity at viral loads above 100,000 copies/ml.
This could include tests such as:-
- a nucleic acid test, including a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test or derivative technologies, including loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) tests
- an antigen test, such as a test from a lateral flow device
It’s your responsibility to ensure the test meets the minimum standards for sensitivity, specificity and viral load details. You must check with your test provider that it meets those standards.
You may not be able to travel if the test does not meet these standards. It’s your responsibility to ensure you get the right test that meets the above requirements.
Every pharmacy/clinic in CH seems to be offering free or nearly free antigen tests for travel now, with certificate, but I cannot see if they meet this requirement. Anyone know how they check this? Or had any experience entering the UK from CH on an antigen test? Due to a tight turnaround the same day PCR would be 200 CHF vs. free for an antigen.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
For our return to the UK from Germany we had these tests done
Kostenloser Bürgertest - Antigen Schnelltest
and received email confirmation of the negative result.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
rob@rar wrote:
@Mr.Egg, thanks. I’d forgotten that there might be a difference between England and Wales for these arrangements.
Rules likely to change next week, so as long as your parents are double vaccinated, there is a god chance of no PCR test needed, just antigen tests which are readily available for free.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@CaravanSkier, thanks very much.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
About to get off the ferry to enter the UK with a free Antigen test from Austria. Asked them to print the results and they are provided on an EU certificate in German and English. The lady who checked documentation in Europoort was happy with them.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Mr.Egg wrote:
rob@rar wrote:
@Mr.Egg, thanks. I’d forgotten that there might be a difference between England and Wales for these arrangements.
Rules likely to change next week, so as long as your parents are double vaccinated, there is a god chance of no PCR test needed, just antigen tests which are readily available for free.
Yes, I did mention that possibility to my father when I spoke to him yesterday. They are fully vaccinated, and have their vaccine certificates from NHS Wales. Hopefully travel requirements will soon reflect the data we are seeing about the effects of vaccination.
@Chris_n, thanks for that - do they mention the sensitivity/specificity details of the test on the certificate? Just trying to work out if this is a requirement.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
On the emailed certificates we received sensitivity was listed as 97,52 specificity as 99.4, my understanding is that there is a requirement for that information
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
rob@rar wrote:
Mr.Egg wrote:
rob@rar wrote:
@Mr.Egg, thanks. I’d forgotten that there might be a difference between England and Wales for these arrangements.
Rules likely to change next week, so as long as your parents are double vaccinated, there is a god chance of no PCR test needed, just antigen tests which are readily available for free.
Yes, I did mention that possibility to my father when I spoke to him yesterday. They are fully vaccinated, and have their vaccine certificates from NHS Wales. Hopefully travel requirements will soon reflect the data we are seeing about the effects of vaccination.
However, Drakeford does like to be extra cautious, so may still want a test. However, most Welsh people fly in / out of England, so he may go along with it....
After all it is free
After all it is free
I don't think that the NHS should be processing Covid tests for free where people have made a conscious choice to travel out of the UK in the full knowledge of the restrictions and processes that apply on their return.
The NHS is under enough strain at the moment without being expected to carry out Covid testing for free for those who choose to go on holiday.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
When I was in Toulouse last year there was a flight going to Italy and all people were being checked before the flight. If they didn't have a test then they were asked to go and get one there. As far as I could assess.
Therefore, all people have to do is go to a holding area and take a lateral flow test.
You can get UK test units before going away and take them with you then test before going to the airport if you are worried about being positive at the airport. Then pull out another one and test at the airport before embarking.
I'm about to take my test this morning after being in England in close quarters with others.
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Mon 21-06-21 8:54; edited 1 time in total
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
@Hurdy, you could look at that way, or you could consider that every opportunity to test someone is an opportunity to pick up an undiagnosed infection and break that chain of infection. Switzerland (not known for doing things for free unless there’s a direct benefit!) has taken that approach. Nevertheless it is not so much the cost as the arbitrariness of it that I take issue with, and actually I’d have a lot less issue paying for a test if the profits were going to the NHS.
As your location is Brussels, are you also a UK citizen living abroad? If so, I wonder how it has not occurred to you that not all travel into/out of the UK is for frivolous foreign holidays.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
@Gämsbock, I'm with you on that. I'm frivolously travelling down to Monaco from Chamonix for a week by the sea.
My tests, as all my others have been, are free. And extremely well organised.
If there were easy flights into Edinburgh I'd still be thinking that the current (to my mind a bit of a nonsense considering real world vaccine escape numbers) quarantine requirements and excess cost of ridiculous tests would be dissuading me from visiting my 88 yr old mother who I haven't seen in 15 months.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
GlasgowCyclops wrote:
Therefore, all people have to do is go to a holding area and take a lateral flow test.
You can get UK test units before going away and take them with you then test before going to the airport if you are worried about being positive at the airport. Then pull out another one and test at the airport before embarking.
.
I would have loved to see the look on the border control guards face if I`d stood there and whipped out a lateral flow test to do on the spot Almost worth the potential hassle/not being allowed to board.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
under a new name wrote:
@Gämsbock, I'm with you on that. I'm frivolously travelling down to Monaco from Chamonix for a week by the sea.
enjoy! (though, I believe, it’s only travel involving the UK that gets the “frivolous” label )
under a new name wrote:
If there were easy flights into Edinburgh I'd still be thinking that the current (to my mind a bit of a nonsense considering real world vaccine escape numbers) quarantine requirements and excess cost of ridiculous tests would be dissuading me from visiting my 88 yr old mother who I haven't seen in 15 months.
Yup, exactly that. We will also both be fully vaccinated at time of travel. I think I mentioned up thread that we wouldn’t be going through what really is a right palaver if we could delay it a bit longer and just travel relatively normally.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Gämsbock wrote:
@Chris_n, thanks for that - do they mention the sensitivity/specificity details of the test on the certificate? Just trying to work out if this is a requirement.
No it doesn't mention that on the certificate, it is not required information. It is stipulated in the requirements for the test but is no longer mentioned in the requirements for the certificate.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
@Gämsbock, if I go and see two blokes in a garage (yes, really) for an antigen test and get an EU standard cert from them (the methods may be questionable, but the certificate is real ), it gives the test name and manufacturer’s info. I guess you could look that up online for the specificity info if you need it?
(I needed an emergency test cert on Saturday to get into an event, and ended up sitting in a hothouse for 20 min. Back to the garage next time, if I can )
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@Chris_n, @Scarlet, thanks - yes, I called a few providers yesterday and they seem to use Abbott here which more than meets the requirements. I found the manufacturers info so I can also print that. „It‘s very probably fine“ gets a lot more stressful when not being let on the plane would mean not being let out of quarantine in time the other side
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@Gämsbock, I guess the requirements published by the UK Government are probably the same as the requirements for an EU test certificate anyway, I can't imagine they made the numbers up themselves. I did spend a little time asking various Embassies and UK Government departments if the Austrian test were ok and none of them would commit to saying they were.
My real world experience was along the lines of OK thank you that's fine. They were more interested in passenger locator forms than Covid test certificates.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
@Chris_n, thanks very much for the reassurance re: RWE. I‘m not concerned that the tests here don‘t meet the requirement - I‘m absolutely sure that they do. It‘s just about proving it and where it has to be specified if checkin/border force decide to be awkward.
Therefore, all people have to do is go to a holding area and take a lateral flow test.
You can get UK test units before going away and take them with you then test before going to the airport if you are worried about being positive at the airport. Then pull out another one and test at the airport before embarking.
.
I would have loved to see the look on the border control guards face if I`d stood there and whipped out a lateral flow test to do on the spot Almost worth the potential hassle/not being allowed to board.
That would be funny.
I was more thinking of what I saw at the airport. Rather than have to get a certificate, a simple test and go.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@GlasgowCyclops, I understood what you meant but I can`t help but look for humour.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
So we've got 3 weeks in Spain booked for 2 weeks time, to sort out the recently widowed MinLaw (setting aside all the 70's jokes, not my fave person, but I would NOT have wished her mid pandemic experience on anyone).
Then in 8 weeks it's 2 weeks in Chx (to see what mess the flood in the apartment, and subsequent trades, have left us).
I have literally NO idea of what the requirements are, or what the costs will be. I figure there is zero point in doing any research until at least tomorrow, as so much might change this afternoon.
Fingers crossed, as myself and the OH have been double jabbed for a while (as we both interface professionally with the highly vulnerable, so were in the second priority tranche) and the (not so) little 'un is still only 15.
Potentially it will all be plain sailing, or............................
After all it is free
After all it is free
Brits need to think again before travelling to the EU.......
The entry gates may soon be closed unless you can afford to go into Quarantine ...
Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for other European countries follow Germany's lead and ensure arrivals from badly affected 'Delta variant areas' complete a mandatory quarantine.
Speaking in the Bundestag during a question and answer session on Wednesday, Merkel said that she would like to see European states enforce a quarantine for people coming from regions where the more contagious Delta variant is spreading, including Britain.
“In our country, if you come from Great Britain, you have to go into quarantine – and that’s not the case in every European country, and that’s what I would like to see,” Merkel said.