UK Government: There Won't Be Quarantine For Vaccinated Amber List Arrivals In England

 

Ministers are probable to announce that vaccinated people touring to England from amber list countries will no longer have to quarantine from later this month, in a huge boost for the travel industry, it is understood.

A date of 19 July to alternate the policies is amongst alternatives that will be considered via the Covid operations committee, chaired by the Cabinet Office minister, Michael Gove, which is due to meet on Thursday morning.

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, is then anticipated to make a formal announcement of the decision on Thursday afternoon. It would apply to England, but Covid travel rules have tended to be unified throughout the UK.

Currently, people coming into the UK from amber list countries and territories, covering the bulk of places and including predominant holiday destinations including France, mainland Spain, Italy and mainland Portugal, need to quarantine for 10 days.

This leaves only the 20 or so places on the green list as conceivable holiday choices, with only a handful of them, such as Malta and the Portuguese island of Madeira, being mainstream tourism destinations.

It has been anticipated for numerous weeks that the regulations would be changed to allow people who have acquired two Covid vaccine doses to avoid quarantine, with the exemption also applying to children.

This would tally with other policies to ease restrictions on the fully-vaccinated. On Tuesday the health secretary, Sajid Javid, announced that from 16 August, people who have received both vaccinations, and those below 18, will no longer have to self-isolate if they have come into close contact with any person who tests positive for Covid.

This will only apply if people have acquired their second vaccination at least 10 days beforehand, with a similar stipulation probable to apply for travel.