This week, the Transport Secretary confirmed that, from July 19th July, everyone who is fully vaccinated will NOT have to quarantine when arriving back from an amber list country, while the Government will also stop advising against travel to amber list countries from July 19th. However, people travelling abroad will still need to pay for PCR tests before and after their return to the UK, and passengers will have to prove their vaccination status via the NHS Covid Pass.
Having spoken to constituents working in the travel and aviation sectors at the Travel Day of Action event a couple of weeks ago, I know this is something constituents have been desperate to see come in, and I have been raising this with my ministerial colleagues in the Department for Transport. Our constituency is very reliant on the success of these vital sectors, and so many businesses and constituents desperately want to see Gatwick Airport return to its pre-pandemic levels, so I hope you are all as pleased as I am to see this announcement.
Most countries across the world are currently on the amber list, and this will open up opportunities for double vaccinated Brits to get a well-deserved holiday to a far wider range of countries than was previously available, currently well over 34 million people have received both jabs. Additionally, its worth remembering that traffic light decisions are being reviewed every three weeks, based on factors including the number of Covid cases and vaccination rates in each country.
I do want to point out that holidaymakers will still need to check the entry rules for the countries they are planning to go to, as some will not allow people from the UK to enter without quarantining first, or they be banned from travelling there altogether.
During his announcement in the House of Commons, my colleague the Transport Secretary said:
““We’re moving forward with efforts to safely reopen international travel this summer, and thanks to the success of our vaccination programme, we’re now able to consider removing the quarantine period for fully vaccinated UK arrivals from amber countries – showing a real sign of progress,”
For more information, please visit the following gov.uk page: Red, amber and green list rules for entering England - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)