Unused PCR Test for Day 2 14 July 2021 at 5:39PM edited 15 July 2021 at 7:45AM in Coronavirus travel help & info 10 replies 753 views

mar7t1n

I have an unused PCR test stored from a cancelled trip at Christmas. The test tube is still in date and the online account for results still active. Is there any reason I cannot use this as a Day 2 return from Amber (fully vaccinated) to save re-purchasing. I believe I need to put some sort of order reference on the passenger locator form. I'm sure I can find a number - but whether it's the right sort of number is less clear.

mar7t1n

I have been in contact with Screen 4 - who sold the original PCR kit. They advised that the UK passenger locator form requires an order reference which will be verified on submission. You have to buy the right test kit to get the right code, otherwise computer says no, and entry to the UK will be denied. So despite having already paid £100 for a PCR kit. I have to buy another, just to get a Day2 kit order number. It's a #SCAM-O-RAMA.

Ganga

mar7t1n said:

I have been in contact with Screen 4 - who sold the original PCR kit. They advised that the UK passenger locator form requires an order reference which will be verified on submission. You have to buy the right test kit to get the right code, otherwise computer says no, and entry to the UK will be denied. So despite having already paid £100 for a PCR kit. I have to buy another, just to get a Day2 kit order number. It's a #SCAM-O-RAMA.

Is the day 2 test not a PCR test rather than a Lateral Flow Test ?

onashoestring

The Day 2 Test is a PCR test to test if you have COVID-19 plus it is also sequenced at the lab to see if you have a variant - and the results are sent to National Government COVID database so it goes through a more thorough process than a straightforward PCR test . 

Only certain labs have the capacity to do this which is why you need a specific type of PCR test for Day 2 and Day 8 tests. 

The idea being that if someone travels abroad and catches a new variant (which the current vaccines used in UK might not be effective against ) it can be contained quickly before transmission and an outbreak in the UK . 

mar7t1n

All positive PCR tests are further subject to variant screening. The annoyance is that having already paid for a test with a supplier who sequences and on the approved list, I have to buy again, for no other reason than to get a Day2 order code. Previous tests are still in date, but never used due to the rules changing about an hour before we were going to do the test. Since then Day 2 was invented and further became a mandatory field on the passenger locator. Although always hope that the need for any test will be removed to bring the UK into line with travel to the EU where entry is subject to being vaccinated.

Aleksandr

I have a similar issue to mar7t1n. I bought three pre flight, test at home, PCR kits from Randox Health at a total cost of £129, three days before Turkey announced that a negative pre flight PCR was no longer required for entry into the country. Randox Health gave a similar response to Screen 4. They tell me I can't use these as a Day2 test as they don't carry the correct reference for the passenger locator form. They cannot issue a reference even though each kit has a unique code on it. They are unable to exchange the kits even though they are unopened. They said I need to purchase a separate Day2 test kit and that my pre-flight kits can still be used up to the expiry date. I don't accept that there is more involved in the day2 kits as these can be found much cheaper than what I paid for the pre-flight kits.
It strikes me that there are quite a few organisations making good money from this pandemic.

sheramber

Don't go abroad and you won't be filling their coffers.

onashoestring

You can use any provider for the Day 2 test as long as the provider meets the UK Gov requirements which  for a Day 2 test include Genome sequencing and that the provider has to report to PHE the following details :

• data required to be reported under public health legislation
• the date of your arrival in the UK

• Your flight number 
• the date on which you last departed from or transited through a country or territory outside the common travel area
• the country or territory they were travelling from when they arrived in the UK, and any country or territory they transited through as part of that journey 
• COVID-19 vaccination status
• the purpose of the test – this must include whether the test was for a non-exempt amber, exempt amber or green list arrival and whether the test was for day 2, day 8 or Test to Release
• passport number or travel document reference number

If your supplier is not set up to collect this information from you for the test you purchased then they can’t report on  it - which is why they legally can’t sell it to you as a Day 2 test and why you can’t use it as a Day 2 test. This is why the PCR tests are not automatically interchangeable. 

Full requirements for providers of Day 2 tests here : https://www.gov.uk/guidance/testing-on-day-2-and-day-8-for-international-arrivals

J_B

Just curious as to any of the above folks with 'spare kits' have tried their original ref No on the passenger locator form to see if the computer actually does say no?

Bunyip_2

J_B said:

Just curious as to any of the above folks with 'spare kits' have tried their original ref No on the passenger locator form to see if the computer actually does say no?

The only thing checked by the PLF is that the five letter prefix belongs to a registered test supplier.  I have heard of people using the same number for a test that they had previously purchased.  Additionally, there is no follow up to check that a test has been done (or what the result of said test is) after return to the UK - so what is the purpose of the test?

This adds to the cynicism that the return to the UK test is merely a money generating rackett for testing firms (who may or may not have links to government ministers).

J_B

Amusingly (slightly O/T) ... Mrs B took her elderly mother to a hospital appointment this morning.

Sadly, Mrs B wasn't allowed to accompany her mum inside as she admitted that she's been abroad in the last two weeks - even though she'd has a clear antigen test to be able to fly home!!!!