Which holiday destinations still require a pre-travel Covid test?

Though many short-haul and European holiday destinations have now scrapped their pre-travel test requirements (some of them dropping all Covid-related rules altogether), many mid- and long-haul countries still ask you to test before your trip.

The US was the most recent to drop its pre-travel test – on 12 June – though only vaccinated visitors are allowed into the country. Australia and New Zealand have both recently dropped their pre-travel test for vaccinated visitors.

There are no hard and fast rules from region to region – in Asia, for example, UK travellers still cannot visit China or Japan for tourism reasons, while South Korea is open to all vaccinated people. In the Indian Ocean, Mauritius and the Maldives have scrapped their pre-travel test, while Madagascar’s rules remain pretty strict.

Here are the places where you still need to plan in advance and organise the correct tests to get in.

Some Caribbean islands

The Caribbean is a mixed bag at the moment: the Dominican Republic, Cuba, US Virgin Islands and Jamaica have dropped all requirements for testing or proof of vaccine requirements for travellers, regardless of vaccine status. Meanwhile St Lucia, Antigua, the Bahamas, St Maarten and Barbados require a test for unvaccinated or partly-vaccinated travellers only. But Saint Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, Anguilla, and the British Virgin Islands all still require a test of both vaccinated and unvaccinated UK arrivals, while the Cayman Islands requires both proof of vaccination and a test.

For St Kitts, a PCR within the three days before travel or an antigen within 24 hours will do the trick; for Trinidad and Tobago it’s a PCR or professionally-administered antigen test within 48 hours before. For the BVIs, everyone aged five and over, regardless of vaccination status, must present a negative rapid antigen test or PCR test taken within 48 hours prior to arrival. Anguilla requires both proof of vaccination and a test (a PCR with 72 hours/antigen within 48 hours). The Cayman Islands requires all visitors to be fully vaccinated, and insists on a negative result from a PCR or certified antigen test, taken no earlier than the day before departure, for everyone five and above.

Madagascar

Madagascar doesn’t require proof of vaccination to enter, but does demand all travellers undergo a PCR test within the 72 hours before departure. You must then pay to take an antigen test on arrival, at a cost of £13. If you test positive on arrival, you must go…