Travellers will be issued with free Covid tests to take abroad under plans to help make foreign holidays a reality.
Whitehall sources told the Mail that fast-turnaround tests would be made available free of charge to people travelling abroad to cut the hassle and expense of getting a pre-return test in a foreign country.
However, in a decision that will dismay the travel industry, people returning from abroad will still have to pay for a gold-standard PCR test when they get home, at a cost of at least £50 each.
Boris Johnson will confirm on Friday that the blanket ban on foreign holidays will be lifted on May 17, but sources said quarantine-free travel would be restricted initially to a 'very small' number of low-risk countries.