coming in for international arrivals. that was only phased out at the end of last month, the 24th of october for england and the 31st of october for england and the 31st of scotland, wales and northern ireland. so it is a recent change to move away from pcr testing to lateral flow tests. lateral flow test, they cannot be sequenced to be able to identify variants. they were originally phased out and month or so ago because the suggestion was that there variant of concern we knew were circulating, there wasn t a need to be able to identify it. so some epidemiologists said this was too early, the point of having these pcr tests on entry was that you are able to identify these variants as they come in, there is essentially, it waves a red flag as soon as someone arrives in the country. but other people said without any variance of concern currently circulating around the world, there was no need for it and they were very expensive and people were taken a lateral flow test and if they
a relatively recent change to move away from pcr testing to lateral flow testing. lateral flow tests are cheaper but the disadvantage is they cannot be sequenced to be able to identify the variant. they were originally phased out a month or so ago. because the suggestion was with no variants of concern that we knew were circulating there was not necessarily a need to be able to identify it. some epidemiologists said that this was too early, obviously the point of having these pcr tests on entry was that you were able to identify these variants as they come in and that there is a sort of essentially wave of red flags as soon as someone arrives in the country but other people said without any variants of concern currently circulating around the world, there was no need for it, they were expensive, people would take a lateral flow test and if they tested positive for that they would take a pcr test. we are now going back to pcr tests to make sure the government can keep an eye on any vari
of october for england, the 31st for scotland, wales and northern ireland, a relatively recent change to move away from pcr testing to lateral flow testing. lateral flow tests are cheaper but the disadvantage is they cannot be sequenced to be able to identify the variant. they were originally phased out a month or so ago. because the suggestion was with no variants of concern that we knew were circulating there was not necessarily a need to be able to identify it. some epidemiologists said that this was too early, obviously the point of having these pcr tests on entry was that you were able to identify these variants as they come in and that there is a sort of essentially waves of red flags as soon as someone arrives in the country but other people said without any variance of concern, currently circulating around the world, there was no need for it, they were expensive, people would take a lateral flow test and if they tested positive for that they would take a pcr test. we are now go