UK eases holiday travel ban
LONDON (AP) – The United Kingdom on Friday announced a “first tentative step” toward resuming international travel, saying UK citizens will be able to travel to countries including Portugal, Iceland and Israel later this month without having to quarantine upon their return.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the country’s current blanket ban on overseas vacations would be replaced on May 17 by a traffic-light system classifying countries as low-, medium- or high-risk.
The “green list” of 12 low-risk territories also includes Gibraltar, the Faroe Islands and the Falkland Islands – but not major vacation destinations for Britons such as France,
Italy, Spain and Greece, which are on the “amber” list.
Britons traveling to those countries, and many others including the United States and Canada, will have to self-isolate for 10 days when they return.
Britons hoping for an overseas vacation this summer without a quarantine do not have a lot to choose from. Several countries on the green list are still closed to British visitors, including Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. Others are little-visited, such as the remote islands of Saint Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha.
“This is not a list generated and created to think about where people want to lie on beaches and then twist the science to fit it,” Shapps said at a news conference.
He added that the list would be reviewed regularly and would likely be expanded.
“We in this country have managed to construct a fortress against COVID, but the disease is still prevalent in other parts of the world, most notably at the moment in India,” he said.
“That’s why today’s announcement, removing the ‘stay in the UK’ restrictions from May 17, is necessarily cautious,” he added.