Official travel advice against all travel outside the UK, but essential, will also be made easier for some countries.
London:
Britain will drop a 14-day quarantine period for people arriving from countries it considers to be at lower risk for COVID-19, the government announced on Friday.
Official travel advice against all except essential travel outside of Great Britain will also be made easier for certain countries and regions.
Taken together, these changes will make it easier for Britons to travel abroad for summer vacations.
The easing is the latest move by the government to reverse the emergency measures put in place to stop the spread of COVID-19, as ministers seek to limit the economic damage caused by the virus.
A panel of experts will classify the nations into three categories: green, amber and red. Passengers arriving from green and amber countries will no longer have to quarantine for 14 days after their arrival.
“Our new risk assessment system will allow us to carefully open a number of safe routes around the world,” said a government spokesperson. “But we will not hesitate to brake if risks reappear.”
The rules for Red Box countries will not change.
The quarantine policy, introduced on June 8, has been heavily criticized by airlines, airports and the hotel industry who say it discourages international travel at a time when they hoped it would recover.
The categories are expected to be announced next week, and the rule changes are expected to take effect the following week. They will be based on factors such as the prevalence of COVID-19, the disease trajectory and the reliability of the data.
Britain has said it will likely discuss it with countries like France, Greece and Spain.
The Foreign Ministry will announce next week the countries where it considers that the risk to public health is no longer too high.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
