Ministers Under Strain To Relax Vacation Policies As Figures Exhibit Just One In 200 Amber List travelers Test Positive For Covid On Their Return
Ministers are today going through calls to relax overseas holiday policies after new data revealed fewer than one in 200 travelers from amber list countries tested positive for Covid.
Just 89 of the 23,465 people who travelled into the UK from amber list nations at the end of last month and the begin of this month had a negative Covid test, NHS Test and Trace shows.
The cases all came from just sixteen of the 167 nations on the amber list, according to the data.
And there have been no cases classed as being 'variants of concern' - Alpha, Beta, Delta or Gamma variants - the figures show.
Ministers say the strict overseas travel policies are there to limit the risk of hazardous variants from reaching the UK.
But the new figures, which cowl the period of May 20 to June 9, have led to extra calls to relax restrictions - which have caused havoc on the travel industry.
Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 committee of Conservative MPs, informed the Times that the Government should begin relying on its successful vaccine roll-out.
He informed the paper: 'Vaccination and testing are making global travel safer just as surely as they make things safer within our borders.
'It's time British people were able to reap the benefits of the vaccines and for us to get the travel industry moving again.'
Currently there are 167 nations on the UK's amber travel list, inclusive of pinnacle holiday hotspots such as Portugal, Spain and Greece.
Travellers from amber list nations are required to self-isolate for 10 days on their arrival in the UK, and take two PCR Covid tests.
These tests are the figures that are provided by NHS Test and Trace.
The figures additionally show there were no Covid cases recorded from arrivals from green list nations - of which there are presently 11 locations along with Iceland and Gibraltar.
Arrivals from green list countries do not have to quarantine on their arrival in the UK.
From red list countries, which require entrants to the UK to quarantine in precise hotels, 435 of the 24,511 people arriving from red list countries had coronavirus.
Of those cases, 89 variants of concern were detected.
It comes as it is revealed today that people who have obtained two doses of the coronavirus vaccine may not be required to quarantine after going on trips overseas.
Cabinet ministers are thinking about easing restrictions for double-jabbed UK travellers, whilst a top Public Health England medic hinted there may be 'alternatives to isolation' for fully-vaccinated Britons.