Changes to Amber and Green Covid Travel Lists
"We are committed to opening up international travel safely," Britain's Transport Secretary Grant Shapps commented today. “While we must continue to be cautious, today's changes reopen a range of different holiday destinations across the globe, which is good news for both the sector and travelling public."
France has now re-joined dozens of countries on the amber list and travel restrictions have been relaxed. Those arriving in England from France will no longer have to self-isolate providing they are double vaccinated. This brings France in line with other EU countries. The UK Department for Transport explained the decision was made following a drop in cases of the Beta variant of Covid-19 in France.
Now France has joined the UK’s amber list, the controversial ‘Amber-plus’ has been scrapped, as it had only contained France. French officials were displeased with this previous grouping, feeling that the moved discriminated against the French. In response to this change, a French government advisor spoke to ‘Politico’, “If it’s the case then it is a good thing, it’s something the French government has been calling for. It means the French government has been heard."
It's good news for popular travel destinations such as Greece and Spain, as despite rumours, they have stayed on the Amber list, which means those with two jabs and/or a negative test are still able to go on their holidays this year.
Boris Johnson has explained he wants a “balanced” approach to international travel. Speaking during a visit to Scotland, he said he knew “how important holidays are to people. People think about them, they save up for them, people yearn to go abroad this year — I totally get that. We’ve got to balance that against the need to protect our country against the influx of new variants.”
The U.K. government will also ease travel restrictions on people returning to England from Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia, Romania and Norway, adding them all to the U.K.’s ‘green list’. India, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE will move from the red list to the ‘amber list’. La Réunion, Georgia, Mayotte and Mexico will be added to the “red list.”
All new travel rules will come into effect on Sunday.