It will be possible to return from Britain to the Czech Republic by air as of noon today, but passengers must produce a negative antigen or PCR test before boarding the plane Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek tweeted this morning.
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Upon arrival, home quarantine is still required. The second test may be undergone after five days at the earliest, he added.
Since Monday, the Czech Republic stopped flights from Britain. The flights were also canceled by a number of other European countries over a new mutation of the coronavirus detected in southern England.
Petříček said: "From 12, it will be possible to return home from Britain by air. The condition is to present a negative antigen or RT-PCR test, which was performed in Britain, before boarding the aircraft. It must not be older than 72 h. After arrival, the domestic quarantine and the second test are still valid after 5 days at the earliest."
⚠️🇨🇿🇬🇧 Od 12:00 bude možné se letecky vrátit domů z Británie. Podmínkou je před nástupem do letadla předložit negativní antigenní nebo RT-PCR test, který byl proveden v Británii. Nesmí být starší než 72 h. Po příletu nadále platí domácí karanténa a druhý test nejdříve po 5 dnech. pic.twitter.com/IGT2N13mQ4
— Tomáš Petříček (@TPetricek) December 23, 2020
According to Seznam Zprávy, only Czech citizens and residents can fly.
France also introduced the condition of presenting the coronavirus test for land journeys across the Channel last night, Petricek said.
"We want France to enable transit across its territory, especially for lorry drivers," he added.
Due to the toughened lockdown, hundreds of Czech trucks were stalled at the border with Britain since Monday. Hauliers estimate their losses at million of crowns according to CTK.
Meanwhile, spokesperson Vlaďka Dufková said Czech Airlines will send a special flight from London to Prague today at 7 pm local time. The plane should land in Prague after 10.
⚠ Update: If you need to fly from the #UK 🇬🇧 ➡ 🇨🇿 to Czechia today, @CzechAirlinesCZ will operate direct flight from London @HeathrowAirport to Prague on 23 December 2020 at 7 p.m. Book your tickets via https://t.co/8u5vNCZ8LM. ✈ We remind you to check valid travel conditions. pic.twitter.com/JAtg6RPBCC
— Prague Airport (@PragueAirport) December 23, 2020