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Covid-19: Rules in NI to change for international travel

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The travel rules will change from 4 October

The Northern Ireland Executive will change rules on Covid-19 testing for international travel, bringing rules in line with the rest of the UK.

Ministers agreed to remove the requirement for pre-departure testing for fully vaccinated arrivals from non-red list countries from 4 October.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has agreed to send up to 100 armed service medics to Northern Ireland to ease hospital pressure.

The health minister welcomed the move.

Robin Swann said it was an "important practical step to support our health and care staff".

They could be deployed between Belfast City Hospital and the Ulster Hospital in October.

The request for assistance had been made by the Department of Health.

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The travels changes will come into force at 04:00 BST on 4 October.

Airline, Jet2 has welcomed the move.

Jet2 chief executive Steve Heapy said: "The news that Northern Ireland holidaymakers will no longer have to take a pre-departure test in resort is another welcome step towards normality, and we applaud the Northern Ireland Executive for this decision.

"There has been enormous demand from holidaymakers in Northern Ireland following the announcement that the traffic light system will be scrapped, and today's news will give customers even more confidence.

"As a result of these recent positive steps, customers are really taking advantage of the opportunity to book some much-needed late summer and winter sunshine and we cannot wait to take them away."

But he added that further changes are needed in order to help the travel industry.

"There is still a long way to go to reopen international properly, and we trust the Northern Ireland Executive will replace expensive PCR arrival tests with lateral flow tests before the end of October," he said.