UK "traffic light" system for travel to end - relief for travel industry
tourism
18 Sep 2021
/ 12:03
LONDON. There will just be a red list and from 4 October Greece and the other ΄amber΄ countries will become ΄green΄.
The UK’s Covid travel rules will be simplified from October - the Transport Secretary announced that the traffic light system with red, amber and green countries will end. For many travellers the mandatory - and expensive - PCR tests, which added to the cost of holidays, will be scrapped.
From 4 October,there will only be a single red list of countries which will require 10-day hotel quarantine on return to England, with travellers paying for two PCR tests during this period.
From 22 September, 8 countries will also come off the red list, including Turkey, Maldives and Pakistan.
This means that popular tourist destinations, including Greece, Spain and France along with others, which aren't on the revised red list, will have much simpler border controls.
Fully vaccinated travellers returning from the rest of the world will no longer have to take a pre-departure test and will be able to take a cheaper lateral flow test on their second day back in England.
Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, announced the revised system in a series of tweets, arguing the success of Britain’s vaccination programme meant the stringent rules could be relaxed without risking importing new variants.
From 4 October,there will only be a single red list of countries which will require 10-day hotel quarantine on return to England, with travellers paying for two PCR tests during this period.
From 22 September, 8 countries will also come off the red list, including Turkey, Maldives and Pakistan.
This means that popular tourist destinations, including Greece, Spain and France along with others, which aren't on the revised red list, will have much simpler border controls.
Fully vaccinated travellers returning from the rest of the world will no longer have to take a pre-departure test and will be able to take a cheaper lateral flow test on their second day back in England.
Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, announced the revised system in a series of tweets, arguing the success of Britain’s vaccination programme meant the stringent rules could be relaxed without risking importing new variants.
