The Omicron variant of Coronavirus is spreading fast in the UK. Health Secretary Sajid Javid said there are now 261 Omicron cases in England, 71 in Scotland and four in Wales - a total of 336. "This includes cases with no links to international travel, so we can conclude there is now community transmission across multiple regions of England," Javid said.
The UK has mandated that travellers arriving in the nation from overseas, including India, will have to undergo a pre-departure test no sooner than 48 hours before their journey. Those who come in contact with a suspected case of Omicron will have to self isolate for 10 days. This will also include fully vaccinated people.
Amid this chaos and uncertainty, travel plans for the festive season have gone for a toss. This has not only left families disheartened but also impacted the aviation industry.
Jaymin Borkhatria from Southall Travel UK told Asian Voice, “Since the news on the discovery of Omicron, new bookings immediately slowed significantly. The implications for the traveller has been a rapid change to testing requirements before departure and on arrival in the case of India. The UK has reintroduced a red list for 10 countries in Southern Africa. All arrivals now must undertake a PCR test within 48 hours and quarantine at home until results are returned.
“We have seen very few people cancel their trips. The most common sentiment is that customers are determined to go on the trip they have booked. If a customer is not allowed to go on their holiday then it would be refundable. However, the trend in the next few weeks will be more changes to entry requirements causing more time-consuming administration and more costly testing. The airline flexibility policies have been extended with the new discovery if changes are needed.”
Jennifer Luke said, “Like most of us I haven't been home - Pune in two years. This year as well, trouble started with British airways cancelling multiple flights with no options to rebook and then came omicron. Along with not meeting our parents we also had our wedding cancelled last year and this time again looks like we might not make it at all. Not just financially, mentally and emotionally draining is what I have experienced in the last 10 days and of course the British and Indian governments ever changing rules and regulations seem to just increase our anxiety levels every single day.”
Pooja Chavan told us, “I had my Air India tickets booked from LHR-Mumbai with my 3years old son for 30 November. On 24th November the news of the new variant came out. On 26th November the Indian government changed the travel policy for risk countries for PCR 72hrs prior to travel, on arrival n home quarantine. My 3-year-old had cough and cold since 25th His PCR was negative which gave me relief. On the day of travel, 30th November, I was extremely stressed about travelling alone with my little one who is very naughty. All preparation was done and baggage was packed. My husband and 7-year-old son came to drop me at the airport. I was about to do bag check-in and get a boarding pass. Our friends called saying Air India had shared new travel guidelines released by the Maharashtra government which are applicable from immediate effect for high-risk countries from 1 December. New guidelines were mandatory 7 days quarantine for UK travellers. I started tremoring n checked with other travellers and also Air India. Travellers were either complete family or single but I was the only one with a three-year-old son. Air India told me I only have 30 minutes to make a decision and my decision was to not travel alone and take risk of hotel quarantine. I had mixed opinions at that time. The next day I found govt allowed that flight passenger to leave the airport when the PCR test came negative. Maharashtra government changed rules again on 2nd December that hotel quarantine only for ultra risk countries, not UK travellers but in all these, I had a lot of emotional n financial loss.”
