The British government announced on Thursday that it will ease travel regulations even more next week, allowing tourists to visit numerous long-distance vacation spots for the first time since the coronavirus epidemic began a year and a half ago.
The government said that it will recognize the immunization programs of dozens more nations, in addition to drastically reducing the number of sites where tourists will be forced to quarantine in a hotel.
It said that the hotel quarantine requirement for arrivals to England from 47 countries, including South Africa, Mexico, and Thailand, will be lifted. Despite the fact that the declaration only applies to England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have typically followed suit.
Only seven countries will be on the so-called “red list” after the change takes effect on Monday: Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. All passengers will be required to stay in a hotel quarantine for 11 nights at a cost of 2,285 pounds ($3,100) for individual travelers.
As a result of the revisions, anyone arriving from one of the 47 nations removed from the red list will not be subject to the requirement.
Unless the British government accepts a country’s vaccination status certificates and the vaccinations used, they will be required to do a series of coronavirus tests before and after their arrival, as well as to go into self-isolation for 10 days. It recognizes AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, as well as formulations like AstraZeneca Covishield.
From Monday, an additional 37 countries and territories will be added to the list, lowering entrance criteria for countries such as Brazil, Ghana, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Thailand, and Turkey.
As a result of the ruling, fully vaccinated adults and children under the age of 18 who enter England from these countries will be considered as fully vaccinated British nationals. They won’t have to take a pre-departure exam or a test on the eighth day after they arrive, and they won’t have to go through the self-isolation phase.
With the evenings drawing in earlier ahead of the school half-term break later this month and winter approaching, the adjustments might help the travel industry, which has suffered arguably the most during the pandemic.
“With half-term approaching and the winter sun on the horizon, we’re making it simpler for families and loved ones to reconnect by reducing the number of locations on the red list, due in part to enhanced vaccination efforts throughout the world,” Transportation Secretary Grant Shapps said.
By the end of the month, the administration hopes to enable qualified fully-vaccinated newcomers to utilize a lateral flow test rather of the more costly gold standard PCR test. Travelers will be able to transmit an image to prove they have passed a lateral flow test, according to the company.
British Airways has stated that flights to a number of winter destinations removed on the red list, including Cape Town and Johannesburg, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, and Buenos Aires, will be resumed with increased frequency.
Sean Doyle, the company’s CEO, stated, “It finally seems like we’re seeing light at the end of a very long tunnel.” “This huge drop in red list nations will help Britain, and now it’s time to focus on eliminating testing for fully-vaccinated tourists to ensure we don’t lose our place on the world stage.”
