Tightened restrictions brought in amid growing concerns over the new ‘super-mutant’ variant ‘don’t really make any difference’ to travellers hoping to save some cash.
With the UK now requiring proof of a negative PCR Covid test, holidaymakers have gotten creative and have found a way to hack the system.
Instead of paying for a new PCR test to determine whether they are infected with the virus, some people have been recycling old booking reference codes on their passenger locator forms.
The loophole saves people money on tests – but it also undermines the nation’s efforts to limit the spread of the Omicron variant.
Some rule-breakers are not only re-using their old codes when they wish to travel again, but are also sharing them with family members and friends, according to a report by the i.
It comes as the first real-world study on the new variant suggests it has a ‘substantial’ ability to evade immunity from a previous infection.
One traveller in Mallorca told i he knows of several people who often fly between the UK and Spain using recycled codes from PCR tests.
He said the newly-introduced restrictions ‘don’t really make any difference’, naming the situation ‘a complete joke’.
Natalie Kenny, CEO of PCR test provider BioGrad Diagnostics and a member of the Laboratory and Testing Industry Organisation (LTIO), said the group had spotted the glitch and reported it to Government last week, before PCR tests for travel were re-introduced.
She added: ‘These people are about to get on airplane with loads of other people and have no intention of doing any testing.’
It is unclear how many people have used the loophole, entering the UK unchecked.
In January, when most air travel was banned, there was also an alarming rise in the number of fake COVID-19 test certificates available on the black market, with instances of counterfeit certificates in Brazil, France and the UK.
Holidaymakers are not the only ones taking advantage of the system, as scammers are already trying to capitalise from the new variant.
A spokesperson for the Health Security Agency confirmed they are aware of the loophole and said: ‘There are legitimate reasons why an individual might re-use a code, such as last-minute changes to travel plans.
‘Re-use of codes accounts for only a very small number of cases, and UKHSA has systems in place to detect and prevent the small proportion of re-use believed to be illegitimate.’
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