Why any safe country would want to accept someone from the likes of Manchester is another story.
Whilst Manchester is reporting very high infection rates right now, local reports show the positive tests are particularly concentrated in the student accommodation at the two large universities. Infections are not randomly distributed amongst the general population. So perhaps precautionary measures could be more nuanced.
Nevertheless, the likelihood of a 'no overnight stays away from home' edict being announced on Monday means I've had to cancel a trip to Devon next week. Very frustrating. But my hotel could only be cancelled without penalty upto midnight on Sunday. Another masterpiece of timing by me there!
On the matter of airport testing, the other issue is that countries insist on three days recency of testing. So that £150 per person would not just be a one-off. It would have to be repeated for every trip. Not exactly a compelling proposition to rush off and book cheap no-frills air tickets on the back of this.