Boris: UK ‘must be realistic’ over foreign holidays return

THE UK must be “realistic” over the resumption of foreign holidays due to “a surge” of coronavirus in popular destinations, Boris Johnson said.

The Prime Minister told a Downing Street briefing “I wish I could give you more on that” but insisted there was not enough “solid data” on the virus.

A Downing Street paper on easing coronavirus restrictions confirmed that a traffic light system for international travel will be introduced.

People living in the UK are currently banned from taking foreign holidays.

The government’s Global Travel Taskforce will provide a report later this week on how international leisure travel can resume.

The earliest that foreign holidays could be permitted is May 17.

Mr Johnson said: “Obviously we are hopeful that we can get going from May 17, we are hopeful.

“But I do not wish to give hostages to fortune or to underestimate the difficulty we are seeing in some of the destination countries people might want to go to.

“We don’t want to see the virus being reimported into this country from abroad.

“Plainly, there is a surge in other parts of the world and we have to be mindful of that and we have to be realistic.”

Mr Johnson said the UK Government will set out “well before May 17 what we think is reasonable”.

Under the traffic light system, assessments will be based on a range of factors, including the proportion of a country’s population which has been vaccinated, rates of infection and emerging new variants.

Travellers arriving from countries rated “green” will not be required to isolate although pre-departure and post-arrival tests will still be needed.

For people who have been in countries classed as “amber” or “red”, arrivals will be required to isolate or enter quarantine.