France to reopen for holidays from June 9
Britons to be welcome in early summer if they have proof of either vaccination or a negative Covid test
BRITISH holidaymakers will be able to visit France from June 9 if they are vaccinated or have a negative Covid test, leaked plans have revealed.
The move means France joins Spain, Portugal and Greece in reopening to tourists in early summer by accepting digital or paper vaccination certificates or a PCR test result. The leaked plans disclosed that France would start lifting its lockdown next Monday with restaurant terraces open in mid-may and a return to “near normal” by June 30.
If applied, the four-phase roadmap will see France fully reopen just nine days after the UK despite far higher infection, hospital admission and death rates. Some French medics criticised the plan as “mad” given that almost 6,000 Covid patients are still in intensive care.
However France, like most of mainland Europe, is likely to be on the UK Government’s “amber” list of countries that is due to be announced potentially at the end of next week.
This would mean holidaymakers would be required to quarantine at home for 10 days on their return and pay up to £300 for PCR tests on days two and eight, and on day five if they wanted to be released early – even if they have been vaccinated.
Government sources are playing down the prospect of any more than 10 countries being on the UK’S “green” list of safe countries because of their high vaccination rates, low prevalence of Covid and its variants, and their comprehensive testing regimes.
Even with green list countries, however, all holidaymakers – vaccinated or not – will have to pay for a PCR test on or before the second day of their return.
The Government is coming under pressure to rethink its refusal to provide any advantage to vaccinated travellers, unlike much of the rest of Europe which is allowing test-free entry if holidaymakers have been inoculated.
Henry Smith, the Tory chairman of the all-party Future of Aviation group, said holidaymakers returning from green list countries should only have to take a free lateral flow test – and then pay for PCR test if that comes back positive. “There is too much complexity for travelling. Most people won’t bother,” he said.
John Holland-kaye, Heathrow’s chief executive, said PCR tests for green travel must be ditched. “It has to be made easier for people to travel if they are vaccinated and going to a low-risk country.”
He also warned of chaos – with queues of up to six hours at Heathrow – unless ministers “got a grip” on delays at the border. He said that while most of the airport was ready for a potential relaunch of international travel on May 17, it risked being thrown off by poor staffing on the Border Force desks.
There is also concern that the NHS app will not be updated in time for May 17. This will mean holidaymakers will have to use paper certificates to show they have been vaccinated. It is also understood that the app will not include results of Covid tests.
Last night, Public Health England announced that two further variants, which share the same parent lineage as the Indian variant, have been identified. VUI-21APR-02 and VUI-21APR-03 have been designated “variants under investigation”, but it said there was currently no evidence they caused more severe disease or reduced vaccine efficacy. So far, officials have identified 193 cases of the Indian variant – known as VUI21APR-01 – 202 cases of VUI-21APR-02, and five cases of VUI-21APR-03.
‘It has to be made easier for people to travel if they are vaccinated and going to a low-risk country’