Heathrow Airport sets up new Covid test facility to reduce quarantine time

The UK’s busiest airport, London’s Heathrow Airport, has unveiled a new coronavirus testing facility that could greatly reduce the length of time people have to stay at home after arriving from countries on the government’s quarantine list.

The new facility will reportedly have 13,000 tests available to passengers each day – with results within hours. It is proposed that arrivals will then take a second test at home and will be able to leave their 14-day quarantine early if they pass both.

The new facility has been set up by aviation services company Collinson and logistics firm Swissport at Heathrow’s Terminal 2, with the Heathrow CEO saying, directed at the government, “Give us the green light to go ahead…to help rebuild the economy”.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the government was not in a position to back Heathrow’s plan but insisted that it was working with airports to find a way for coronavirus testing to reduce the quarantine period.

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In This Story: Matt Hancock

Matt Hancock is a British Member of Parliament, who is serving as Health Secretary under Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Hancock was alleged to have been having an affair, after photographs emerged of him apparently kissing a woman at his Ministerial workplace were published by The Sun newspaper on 25 June 2021.

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