All the latest from our Covid blog
Heathrow Airport's chief executive has urged the government to avoid bans on travel to entire regions when the next Covid variant appears.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps confirmed the “ridiculously complicated” passenger locator form will be updated to a simpler form as the restrictions are lifted in February. but has not spoken about plans for any future waves of the pandemic.
The travel sector has been left reeling by repeated lockdowns which forced people to stay at home and made flying more expensive with compulsory testing.
As the Omicron variant was first spotted in late 2021 in southern Africa, the UK put large tracts of the region on no-fly lists, adding quarantine and testing costs to anyone wanting to travel.
Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye welcomed the Government's decision to ease coronavirus regulations for people arriving in England but said more needed to be done for next time.
“Millions of jobs depend upon aviation in different forms, including those people who are manufacturing goods that need to be exported around the world,” he said.
“Many of them travel on passenger planes out of Heathrow.
“It's important to get the balance right. Where we are in the pandemic, with the benefit of vaccinations, many people having been jabbed three times now, it's the right time to start opening up the economy and learning to live with Covid.
“Now of course if there is another variant of concern, measures will be brought in. We hope those will be targeted just on countries which have the variants of concern, rather than the blanket ban that we saw a couple of months ago.
“But this is a really good step forward and we should celebrate it, and I think the government has made the right step in taking an international lead in reopening international travel.”
Mr Shapps announced the easing of travel restrictions, and on Tuesday he said there would be “no quarantine, no testing, no cost” for travellers.
“When you go abroad there are no more tests to take. You don’t need to take a test before you leave where you are coming from, you don’t need to take a day 2 test,” Mr Shapps said.
“You just come home and the only thing you are going to do is fill in a passenger locator form which we are going to simplify. It was ridiculously complicated to work your way through. And that’s it. No quarantine, no testing, no cost.”
Successive waves of the virus have hit countries at different speeds and nations have had different abilities in buying vaccines, meaning they are all in a different place in tackling the virus.
While England hopes it will no longer need new lockdowns, Germany believes it still has at least two weeks before peak infection rate from the Omicron variant.
Mr Holland-Kaye said the requirement for international travellers to fill out coronavirus forms “is going to be with us for some time".
“We're told by the Government that they are simplifying those, and within the next month or so we should see those becoming a little easier to fill out,” he said.
“We need to get back to where travel used to be, where you don't have to fill out all these forms or have tests at both ends of the route.
“Now I think in reality, because Covid is going to be with us for some time, we're going to have to live with these, if not for coming into the UK then certainly for going into other countries. It's just going to be part of international travel.
“But if that's the price we have to pay to be able to see our loved ones or to go about doing our business, then I think it's a price worth paying and at least we don't have the very expensive tests that the Government had been requiring until quite recently.”
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
The%20specs%3A%202024%20Mercedes%20E200
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.0-litre%20four-cyl%20turbo%20%2B%20mild%20hybrid%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E204hp%20at%205%2C800rpm%20%2B23hp%20hybrid%20boost%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E320Nm%20at%201%2C800rpm%20%2B205Nm%20hybrid%20boost%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E9-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E7.3L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENovember%2FDecember%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh205%2C000%20(estimate)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
ARM%20IPO%20DETAILS
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More from Aya Iskandarani
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, last-16, second leg (first-leg scores in brackets):
PSG (2) v Manchester United (0)
Midnight (Thursday), BeIN Sports
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
TECH%20SPECS%3A%20APPLE%20WATCH%20SERIES%209
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UAE%20Warriors%2045%20Results
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Switching%20sides
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Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
Napoleon
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ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
A little about CVRL
Founded in 1985 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) is a government diagnostic centre that provides testing and research facilities to the UAE and neighbouring countries.
One of its main goals is to provide permanent treatment solutions for veterinary related diseases.
The taxidermy centre was established 12 years ago and is headed by Dr Ulrich Wernery.
UAE’s revised Cricket World Cup League Two schedule
August, 2021: Host - United States; Teams - UAE, United States and Scotland
Between September and November, 2021 (dates TBC): Host - Namibia; Teams - Namibia, Oman, UAE
December, 2021: Host - UAE; Teams - UAE, Namibia, Oman
February, 2022: Hosts - Nepal; Teams - UAE, Nepal, PNG
June, 2022: Hosts - Scotland; Teams - UAE, United States, Scotland
September, 2022: Hosts - PNG; Teams - UAE, PNG, Nepal
February, 2023: Hosts - UAE; Teams - UAE, PNG, Nepal
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Transmission: seven-speed auto
Power: 420 bhp
Torque: 624Nm
Price: from Dh293,200
On sale: now
MATCH INFO
Manchester City 1 Chelsea 0
De Bruyne (70')
Man of the Match: Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City)
Company%20Profile
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