UPDATE 1-UK government and Heathrow work on testing as quarantine alternative

(Adds Heathrow testing area, minister comment)

LONDON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Britain is working with London's
Heathrow Airport on a plan to use COVID-19 testing to help
shorten quarantine times, in an effort to help airlines and
airports kickstart travel and the wider economy.

Heathrow said on Wednesday that a testing area was ready to
open should Britain approve a rule change and allow two tests,
one on arrival and one some days later, to cut the quarantine
time from the current two weeks.

Under the current rules, travellers to the United Kingdom
from the United States, Spain, France and many other countries
must self-isolate for 14 days when they arrive, deterring travel
and heaping financial pressure on airlines.

Britain's health minister Matt Hancock said the government
was still working with Heathrow on the plan but there were
challenges in ensuring all of those infected by COVID-19 were
detected.

"I'm very glad that they're making progress, but we've got
to make sure that this is safe and secure because obviously that
is absolutely top priority," Hancock told LBC radio.

British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair
have urged the government to allow quarantine to be
replaced with testing, saying that Britain should follow Germany
which has introduced a mandatory, free single COVID test for
arrivals from high risk countries.

"We believe a UK testing protocol based on the German model
would stimulate significant demand whilst protecting public
health," the airlines' chief executives said in a letter to the
transport minister on Monday.

Switching away from quarantine would boost key connections
between the UK and Europe, and with the United States, and help
the economy recover, they said.

Heathrow's testing facility, set up by medical travel firm
Collinson and airport services company Swissport, is ready to
operate at Terminal 2 and could process 13,000 tests a day.
Another facility at Terminal 5 will be ready in a few weeks.

Passengers would have to pay 150 pounds ($198) for the test,
which the groups said would be a "gold-standard PCR test",
sensitive enough to detect COVID-19 before symptons show.
($1 = 0.7557 pounds)
(Reporting by Sarah Young and Kate Holton; editing by Michael
Holden)