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France is touted to return to the amber list, allowing fully vaccinated Britons to return home without facing quarantine, reports suggest.
However, ministers are “getting jumpy” about the number of Beta cases in parts of Spain ahead of the Government’s review of the traffic light lists, according to a Whitehall source quoted by The Daily Mail. The latest update on the red, green and amber lists is due next week.
“The situation in Spain is beginning to feel a lot like the build-up to the decision on France,” the source said.
It is looking more positive for France, though, according to the Whitehall source, after the country was moved to its own ‘amber plus’ category on July 19 meaning that even fully vaccinated Britons face up to 10 days of isolation on return from there.
They added: “France is going to happen. It should never have been left out [of the quarantine exemption for fully vaccinated Britons] in the first place – the Department of Health just panicked. But there could be no justification for keeping restrictions in place now.”
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PM keen for US travellers as hopes rise for easing restrictions
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he wants US citizens to come to England “freely” and he was talking to the United States about a travel corridor, LBC radio reported on Wednesday.
LBC quoted Johnson as saying that he wanted US citizens who are fully vaccinated to come to Britain as they did before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We want people to be able to come from the US freely in a way that they normally do. We’re talking to them the whole time,” LBC reported Johnson as saying in an interview.
“At the moment we’re dealing with a Delta wave, the US is dealing with a Delta wave, but be assured that we are on it the whole time. As soon as we have something to say about travel corridors you’ll be hearing from us.”
Freedom for double jabbed as UK opens to world
Britain is to drop restrictions for fully vaccinated people and reopen its borders to European and American travellers from next month.
Boris Johnson has decided that, from August 16, those who have been fully vaccinated will not be required to take a test if they come into contact with someone with Covid unless they have symptoms.
It had previously been reported that workers would only be released from self-isolation after a negative test, and health officials had been planning for a major new system of compulsory testing to free people from isolating.
With Covid cases falling for a seventh successive day, Mr Johnson has also decided to reopen the country to foreign tourists from the EU and North America who have been fully vaccinated. Travel to the UK was previously only possible without quarantine from a handful of green list countries.
What happened yesterday?
The main stories from Tuesday:
- Scientists considering 77 countries for move to travel green list
- Germany and Italy touted for green-list promotion
- Australia could remain closed until 2022 over vaccines ‘failure’, says former prime minister
- Gridlocked roads could cause chaos for Britons this summer, research says
- French beauty spots limit visitor numbers to protect environment
- EasyJet: Most of Europe should be on green list
Now onto today’s travel news.