There are different rules if you travel to England from mainland China.
If you’re aged 12 or older, you will need to take a COVID-19 test no more than 2 days before you travel and spend some time in England.
You will need to show notification of a negative COVID-19 test result when you depart mainland China for England. This will be checked by your airline, and you may be required to show this to Border Force on arrival to England.
This applies to all direct and indirect flights from mainland China. An indirect flight involves one or more stops in other countries or territories before arriving in England. This includes if you are travelling through Hong Kong or Macao.
It applies if England is your final destination, or if you will be transiting through England.
Transit through mainland China
These rules do not apply if your journey to England started in another country and you only transit ‘airside’ through mainland China. If you transit ‘landside’ (you pass through border control), then these COVID-19 travel rules do apply.
Test results
You must provide the original test result notification. Your test result must be in either English, French or Spanish.
Your test result can be provided as:
- a printed document
- an email or text message you can show on your phone – make sure your device is charged
It must include the following information:
- your name, which should match the name on your travel documents
- your date of birth or age
- the result of the test
- the date the test sample was collected or received by the test provider
- the name of the test provider and their contact details
- confirmation of the type of test taken, this can be a lateral flow or PCR
You cannot use an NHS-provided test as a pre-departure test.
You must retain your notification of a negative COVID-19 test result until you have passed through the UK border.
You may be fined if you do not follow these travel rules.
You may not need to take a pre-departure test if you have a work-related exemption or if you have a reasonable excuse.
From 8 January 2023, some passengers will be invited to take a voluntary test on arrival to monitor for potential new variants. This applies to passengers aged 18 or over who are travelling from mainland China and arriving at Heathrow Airport only.