[dennis12]

Hi All ,

Has anyone recently travelled with BA from LHR to DXB? Do they accept the email with the NHS COVID-19 test results?

[rhillson1]

Dubai has this week changed the rules for arrivals from the UK, tourists and residents can now take a test at DXB airport upon arrival if they don’t have a negative test result taken within 96hrs of departure.

https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/transport/dubai-sets-out-major-overhaul-of-covid-testing-for-residents-and-tourists-1.1100125

Regardless of the above new rules, if you choose to get tested in the UK prior to flying, the Dubai authorities do not accept soft copy results on mobile phones or SMS results, it must be a printed, negative test result.

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Polly

[ASK1945]

rhillson1 – the lists appear to have been drawn up on political rather than pandemic grounds: Belgium, Spain, the USA etc – all heavily affected by Covid – are on the ‘lighter touch’ section whereas Cyprus, Greece, Malta etc – who are hardly affected currently – are on the slightly stricter rules section.

[TonyR]

You should not be using the NHS for travel tests – it’s for people whose health is at risk. Pay for a test at a private clinic instead please.

4 users thanked author for this post.

DiamondDad68, BackOfThePlane, DerekVH, Polly

[FRANCESCABARNES]

I agree that NHS Centres on the whole shouldn’t be used BUT, we have a ‘walk in’ here and it’s forever basically empty, so nobody is taking up someone’s need who legitimately needs to attend.

[DerekVH]

This is not the case – the problem is not at the walk-in centers but back in the laboratories who are struggling to progress all the tests ! NHS Facilities should not be abused by someone wishing to travel abroad.

1 user thanked author for this post.

DiamondDad68

[TonyR]

[postquote quote=1014332][/postquote]

Its much more than an empty walk in test centre. There is a shortage of testing kits because of demand and a problem at the Roche distribution warehouse and you would be using a test kit that is needed for someone who needs it for medical reasons. And as DerekVH said, there is a capacity problem in the labs to which the swabs are sent.

So please pay for a private test for your travel needs rather than trying to cadge a free one on the NHS and depriving someone who needs it for medical reasons. The Government website is quite clear on this –

“ You cannot get a free NHS test unless you have symptoms, have been asked to by your local council live in England and have been told to by your hospital, or are taking part in a government pilot project.”

[Stevescoots]

[postquote quote=1014307][/postquote]

Agreed. also the NHS one may not be valid as it have very few details and does nor specificaly state PCR-RT which many countries require.

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Frederic

[SimonS1]

So to answer the OP’s question – yes NHS tests are accepted for entry to Dubai provided you have the results email and the email shoring the date/time of the appointment.

However as posted upstream it is also possible to have a test on arrival here now. People coming through this week are reporting about 30 mins and no cost.

I agree the NHS is not there to fund tests for people wanting to travel, equally the Government’s own statistics indicate that with lab capacity now on stream the system is running at about 75% of capacity, so the suggestion you are denying someone else a test is probably untrue. This would be backed up by circumstantial evidence, a member of my family passes the Plumpton Racecourse site every day and says most of the time the number of customers are vastly outnumbered by the staff.

[MartynSinclair]

Covid 19 travel documents are likely to be, if not currently already, the most important travel documents needed for 2021, especially if and when a vaccine is released. I would have thought a more cohesive approach to accepted and standardised documents needs to be introduced to ensure what passengers travel with, are accepted as bone fide / correct. We are already 11 months into this pandemic….

Whilst I have not yet heard of any Covid test documents being challenged as fake, there have been instances of questionable tests being offered.

When mass travel resumes, check in counters. security check points and boarding areas, will not have time to spend minutes checking paper work and processing to ensure Covid 19 passenger protocols have been carried out.

The challenges needed to get on a flight today (most of which are less than 50% full), needs to be streamlined and cost effective. Hearing passengers having had a test and still missing flights is unacceptable.

DXB is just one destination. When the world opens Covid 19 protocols must be respected, but there needs to be a way of avoiding the inevitable issues, such as the topic of this thread..

I agree the NHS test is for a specific (and generally non travel related) purpose – however, the testing data NHS hold is not NOT a non valuable set of data….

The world has moved forward from small pox / Cholera – but I can still remember needing documents in my passport for both inoculations, prior to travel as a youngster. I even think I needed a cholera jab for Spain.

[Author]

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