Covid: Mark Drakeford says PCR tests should be kept for travel

The UK government should be keeping PCR tests for returning international travellers, Wales' first minister has said.

Significant changes to the travel regime in England are due to come into force in October.

Wales has not decided whether to follow suit - Mark Drakeford said his ministers face a "difficult decision".

Ending day two PCR tests was a "step away" from the UK government's duty to people's health, he said.

He said the tests allow scientists to detect new variants of the virus.

Under the changes the international travel system for England will be simplified with a single red list, with the amber list of countries scrapped.

From 4 October fully vaccinated travellers will no longer have to take a pre-departure test, or a day eight test on their return.

Later that month no PCR test will be required on day two, replaced instead by a lateral flow test.

The announcement prompted concern in Scotland, which has backed simplifying the lists but may keep the testing regime.

Wales did agree to remove eight countries from the red list, including Turkey and Egypt.

Mr Drakeford told the Senedd that while there was no objection to the decision to merge the green and amber list of countries, reducing the red list was "more concerning".

But the "most concerning" decision was moving away from PCR tests on day two, "because that was the strongest defence against the re-importation of viruses from elsewhere in the world", he said.

"In Wales we genomic sequence a higher proportion of tests than any other part of the United Kingdom and it is that sequencing that allows the very skilled scientists who do it to identify new variations in coronavirus."

However the fact that many Welsh travellers travel to the UK via English ports made it a "difficult decision", with English ports not keen to communicate differences in rules.

Mr Drakeford, who was responding to a question from Caerphilly MS Hefin David, said ministers would come to a decision "shortly".

"The real answer should have been to have retained the day two PCR tests across the United Kingdom, and the failure to do so, I think really is a step away from the duty that the UK government owes to the health of people in this country."