Ditch ‘illogical’ Covid travel tests for under-11s, ministers urged

Ministers have been urged to ditch "illogical, unnecessary and damaging" Covid travel tests for under-11s, which no other countries impose on children. England is the only country in Europe to require under-11s to be tested on their return and to exempt only those aged four or under. It can add nearly £150 to the cost of a holiday for a family of four. However, public health experts and children's groups say it is an unnecessary burden on healthy children when Covid infection rates among returning travellers are lower than those in the UK. 'If you have high vaccination rates, why are you doing this?' Allyson Pollock, professor of public health at Newcastle University, told The Telegraph: "Testing young children is illogical and unnecessary. If your background rates are low in the population, then there is no logic to testing in any case. "If you have high vaccination rates, why are you doing this? It comes down to what is the evidence in support of testing. "We know the tests themselves are problematic and the Government is moving to lateral flow tests [LFTs] where the sensitivity and performance depends on who is doing them. There has been no evaluation of self-testing… Read full this story

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