Anyone travelling to England and Scotland will have to test negative for coronavirus before entering the country.
New plans set out by transport secretary Grant Shapps say passengers arriving in the country by boat, train or plane must take a test up to 72 hours before departure.
It is thought this will also be introduced in Wales and Northern Ireland in the coming days.
Failure to comply with the rules will lead to an immediate £500 fine.
UK nationals will also be required to take a test before returning from abroad, which may lead to a scramble for return flights.
Around 100,000 people are currently on holiday in hotspots such as Dubai and the Maldives.
The rules were agreed by ministers last night as soaring cases and the third national lockdown has put pressure on the country to close its borders.
Mr Shapps hopes the move will help prevent new variants of Covid-19 – found in countries like South Africa and Denmark – from entering the UK.
‘We already have significant measures in place to prevent imported cases of Covid-19, but with new strains of the virus developing internationally, we must take further precautions,’ said the transport secretary.
‘Taken together with the existing mandatory self-isolation period for passengers returning from high-risk countries, pre-departure tests will provide a further line of defence – helping us control the virus as we roll out the vaccine at pace over the coming weeks.’
Exceptions to the testing rule include hauliers, children under 11, crews, arrivals from the Common Travel Area with Ireland, and for those travelling from countries which do not have testing facilities.
It comes after all direct travel was suspended from South Africa after a mutant variant of the virus found there is thought to potentially be even more contagious than the new strain found in the UK.
But the latest lockdown measures across the four nations of the UK mean there is very little international travel at this time.
The airline industry acknowledged the need for testing but urged ministers to lift them as quickly as possible to aid economic recovery.
Tim Alderslade, the chief executive of the industry body Airlines UK, said: ‘This should be a short-term, emergency measure only and once the rollout of the vaccine accelerates, the focus must be on returning travel to normal as quickly as possible in order to support the UK’s economic recovery.’
Under the new rules, passengers will be required to present proof of a negative test result upon boarding, while the UK Border Force will conduct spot checks on arrivals.
All passengers arriving from countries not on the Government’s travel corridor list will still have to self-isolate for 10 days, regardless of their test result.
Travellers will also not need to self-isolate while waiting for their rest result prior to departure, Mr Shapps told BBC Breakfast this morning.
Hauliers crossing the Channel to France will also still need a negative test before departure following a decision by the French government yesterday.
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source https://metro.co.uk/2021/01/08/travellers-must-test-covid-negative-before-entering-uk-or-face-fine-13869375/