Covid-19 – Are You Due to Arrive to Madeira? – Due to Return to UK?

Tobi Hughes·
News Blog

Lots of people have so many questions to ask about arriving in Madeira.

The testing at the airport. How did you find the experience, and were your results sent to you within 12 hours?

If you already had a test, which country are you flying from? Did they accept a text message for your results or did you have to have paperwork with the results on?

If you are returning to the UK soon or have returned this week, I am really interested to know about the quarantine/self-isolation.

This below is very useful, as the UK government website is still saying you have to quarantine or self-isolate for two weeks when returning from Madeira.

I have two valid reports of people returning this week to the UK and were told that quarantine/self-isolation was not necessary as they have come from Madeira. Have you experienced this?????

 

If you have any other experiences that may be useful to future passengers please leave a comment below.

 

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Tobi Hughes

33 Responses

  1. Pingback: Comments Working Again - Madeira Island News Blog

  2. I wish this was the case. I need to go to madeira but cannot book due to quarantine requirements. If this has changed, please let me know. Mel

    1. Mel apparently the revised air bridges listings will be looked at Monday. Therefore 14 days quarantine may be changed, fingers crossed we’re due to arrive 5th September ?

  3. We arrived to Madeira at 17th July (from Russia via Frankfurt and Lisbon, so the flight to Madeira was from Lisbon). Before leaving Russia we got medical certificates on the paper and I uploaded them to the MadeiraSafe site. After arrival we were asked for confirmation that we have registered at this site and after that physician checked our papers. For my surprise they don’t speak english, which is rare situation here at Madeira and all the more so at the airport. Anyway, after checking documents we were allowed to take a taxi and ride to the home. We got two SMS with reminders to enter our symptoms (if any) at the MadeiraSafe and basically that’s all.

  4. Hi – we arrived 27th July from the UK via Porto. The whole process from landing to exit was less than 15 mins. We registered 24 hours prior to flying. On arrival you are prompted to retrieve the QR from the website. This is scanned and you are handed 4 barcodes. You proceed to a cubical where a nurse takes 3 swabs; one from the back of each nostril and another from the back of your throat. You are then free to exit the terminal. We picked up our hire car and proceeded directly to our accommodation to await our result. We landed at 8am and our negative results were emailed to us at 4pm. Every day we complete a quick health survey to report that we are still well. All in all – a very efficient and well thought out process. The rest of the world should be taking note.

  5. We travelled from UK East Midlands airport with Jet2. Flight was fine probably 40% capacity. They serve food and drinks so you can obviously remove masks to eat and drink. Pre trip I’d already read up the conditions of travel for Madeira and registered all travelling individually on the Madeira safe website. When landed everything was pretty much the same until you pass through customs. There is an additional COVID-19 check here. Crucially one line for people with a test and one line for those without. I’d already organised a test in Uk within the 72 hours. I received the NHS emails and saved as PDF and attached as evidence in my Madeira safe account. Once through the initial check I was sent to a desk where you need to show the QR code from the Madeira safe app. Worth taking a screen print of that and ensuring you have data on arrival so you can easily bring up these details. At worst have a copy of the QR code ready offline. It was then checked by a team of people and verified. They look for the negative test email from the NHS, make sure you have this and loaded. Took about an extra 10 mins in total. Can’t advise on process or timings for non test queue. Better to plan ahead in my opinion.

    1. Thanks for that Rob. Those who take a test here expect to take about an hour from getting your cases to finishing, this is based on a full flight, and my Niece was one of the last to join the queue.

    2. Hi Rob
      ~How did you arrange your pretravel test in UK to get 72 hr before especially if travelling on a monday like most from UK please?

      1. Our flight to Madeira was on a Monday. I had my NHS test in the uk at 7.30pm on Friday and had results back Saturday evening. The results are emailed and texted to you so you don’t need to “wait in” for anything. Best to get tested before you go cause what a nightmare if you get there and turns out you’re positive. (Just a thought). Hope that helps

  6. Hi Toby, it’s great to see you up and running again, thanks for all your updates.
    My mother in law recently returned back to the UK, she was told to self isolate for 14 days by border control but after that had no contact with any authorities. It would now appear they are contacting one in five people however the local police don’t support this as actually happening. As a personnel opinion the authorities here in RAM seem to be well engaged and on the case which gives me great confidence.

  7. Hi I’m from Madeira living in England. This is important. Because UK includes, Scotland, Ireland and Welsh. And in does countries the rules r different. From Madeira and Azores to England you don’t need quarantine. From any region of Portugal main land you will have to quarantine.

  8. We travelled from Gatwick this morning.
    The testing process on arrival was very efficient and the results (negative) came through in seven hours by email.

  9. Wife flew back Tuesday from Estonia via Frankfurt and Lisbon. No checks until Funchal. Then everything was dealt with like clockwork. However it was 15 hours before she received the “Negative” message from Madeirasafe.

  10. We had the test done when we landed and had our results within 12 hours. It was very impressive.

    On our return to the UK 2nd Aug, my husband requested to show his completed contact tracing form (available on gov.uk website) and that was it.
    I went through the automatic gate so did not speak to anyone.

    I thought this was strange no one had asked us questions.
    The next day the government called me to ensure that I was self-isolating at the place I had stated on my form and if I knew what self isolation meant and went through some general covid statements.

  11. Returned from Madeira on Monday . Whole raft of checks, forms, QR codes. On arrival face to face interview, temperature checks and finally a Covid test – all before we left airport. Covid results emailed in 6 hours. Very efficient.

    0 deaths and handful of cases over whole period of pandemic.

    Yesterday returned to Heathrow. Nothing. People from all over world just walked through – no checks, notices or advice. Nothing. Yet we are supposed to isolate coming from Madeira!!!!

    50,000 + deaths.

    This comment has been discussed on BBC Radio 2 and our local radio station after I sent it to them.

  12. I returned to the UK on Saturday 1st August, having arrived in Madeira on the 25th July. Coming into Madeira, the experience was amazing; so well organised. Testing was clear in terms of my responsibilities, lots of people to help, super efficient process and even a free banana! Results were emailed to me in about 5 hours or so. Part way through the week, I started getting texts from MadeiraSafe asking me to fill in the How I Feel section on the MadeiraSafe site; I think I was supposed to do this daily but didn’t know until the text promoted me.

    Coming back to the UK was the exact opposite experience; the only mention of the entire quarantine process was when I was asked if I’d completed the form as part of checking in. Neither in Madeira or the UK did anyone ask to see it. I expect that in Madeira, but not the UK side! We are quarantining, but I have to say it’s simply out of feeling we should do the right thing rather than any reasonable process on the UK side.

  14. I am coming 31st August. Are most things open. Also I am just doing test when I arrive at airport.
    Do you know if jet2 are flying to maderia.

  15. I wonder how Rob got his test in the UK ? My understanding was you could only get one if you have symptoms – or pay quite a lot for a private one ?

    2. You don’t need to have symptoms to get tested in the uk. Go online and book a test at the nearest testing station to you. Choose a date and time to be within the 72 hours before your arrival in Madeira and you get the results back by email and sms within hours. You then show them to the authorities when you arrive in Funchal and it saves you being tested there and quarantining until you get the results. All very simple. I have just returned and I had the test before I travelled from the uk. Hope that helps.

        1. Yes you book on http://www.gov.uk. It’s very easy. Complete the questionnaire and choose time and date. They send you confirmation and code to show at your chosen testing site when you arrive. It’s very efficient and results are sent back pretty quick.

  16. Any news when Cruise ships are going to be allowed into Madeira I see the the schedule that one was due today but just looked at the webcam and no sign

    1. I Think it will be a while yet. September we are due at least 60, but I think only 4 are planned, and its not confirmed if they will come. I really miss the ships coming and going, and this must be one of the worst-hit industries….

  17. Hello – does anyone know how you isolate waiting for the test results if you are on a package holiday? Are you still allowed to travel to your hotel on the Jet2 bus? Do you need to stay in your room? Any insight would really help – our holiday was changed to Madeira yesterday and we will arrive on Monday 17th.

    1. Yes you go to your hotel as normal, and stay in your room till you receive the results, this can take up to 12 hours, but most receive between 6-8 hours.

  18. I was concerned that as we arrive in Funchal on a flight at 7.30 pm on the monday I would have to book a test on Saturday morning and would i than have to stay at home until i got the result and would i get it before needing to leave for the airport on Monday morning . I was just hoping to be sure before flying if possible .

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