The United Kingdom becomes one of the first major international countries that removes all its travel restrictions on Covid-19  ahead of the Easter holidays. With this in mind, the government provided a new handbook in Indonesian to encourage Indonesians to travel to the country.

The new law has been signed and went into effect on Thursday, March 17. The requirement to fill out a Passenger Location Form was lifted at 4 a.m the next day, and those who have not yet been vaccinated will not be required to take any pre-departure or day 2 post-arrival tests.

UK Health and Social Care Secretary, Sajid Javid, said: “As we learn to live with COVID-19, we’re taking further steps to open up international travel once again ahead of the Easter holidays. We will continue monitoring and tracking potential new variants and keep a reserve of measures that can be rapidly deployed if needed to keep us safe."

"We can remove these final restrictions thanks to the incredible success of our vaccination program, which has seen more than 8 out of 10 adults across the UK boosted," he added.

"Ayo ke UK": New Guidebook

The step reflects the decision made by the UK government, as planned in their "Living with COVID". The success of the UK's vaccines and boosters influenced the movements as 86 percent of the total population in the country received their second dose and 67 percent of the population received boosters or the third dose. 

“This is the moment we have all been waiting for. This brings travel back, almost to pre-COVID normality. We will not be complacent. The UK will continue our close collaboration with partners on genomic sequencing of COVID-19, so we are ready to tackle new variants should they arise. For now though, this is a moment to celebrate – as tourism and business travel – has just got much easier," said British Ambassador to Indonesia and Timor Leste, Owen Jenkins. 

The British Embassy Jakarta launched a new guidebook, called "Ayo ke UK", for travel to the UK. The guidebook provides a range of travel ideas across the four nations of the UK- England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, as well as basic information for travelers like restaurants 
and tourist destination.

"I am delighted that this news comes just before we launch our Guidebook to help Indonesians travel to the UK. The timing could hardly be better with the Easter break coming up," Jenkins stated.

 "We hope this guidebook – in Bahasa Indonesia – can give new ideas, helpful information, reassurance and inspiration – to those planning UK travels,” he further explained.

Protection guarantee

In 2021, the number of Indonesians was less than one-fifth of the figure of 55,000 pre-pandemic with 9,670. Nonetheless, the acceptance rate for Indonesians for a UK visa for visit, work, and study remains high at 91 percent. Indonesians who correctly fill out the forms and provide the requested information almost always receive a UK visa.

To ensure the protection of public health, the government maintains contingency measures in reserve and only in extreme circumstances which would enable them to perform local quarantine and safety precautions in the case of any future harmful variants of Covid-19 entering the UK arising. 

However, given the current state of the pandemic, the UK government expects its global travel volumes to return to normal. 

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said, "The UK is leading the world in removing all remaining COVID-19 travel restrictions, and this announcement is a testament to the hard work everyone in this country has put in place to roll out the vaccine and protect each other."