Britain easing quarantine rules
Fully vaccinated U.S. travelers and many from Europe won’t have to self-isolate for 10 days on arrival.
Starting Monday, fully vaccinated U.S. travelers and many from Europe won’t have to self-isolate for 10 days on arrival.
LONDON — Fully vaccinated travelers from the United States and much of Europe will be able to enter Britain without quarantining starting next week, U.K. officials said Wednesday — a move welcomed by Britain’s ailing travel industry.
The British government said people who have received both doses of a vaccine authorized by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States or by the European Medicines Agency, which regulates drugs for the European Union and several other countries, will be able to take pre- and post-arrival coronavirus tests instead of self-isolating for 10 days after entering England.
The rule change takes effect at 4 a.m. Monday.
The Scottish government, which sets its own health policy, made the same decision. Wales said it would also adopt the change — though its Labor Partyled government said it regretted the Conservative London government’s decision.
“However, as we share an open border with England, it would be ineffective to introduce separate arrangements for Wales,” it said.
Northern Ireland, which is also part of Britain, hasn’t announced what it plans to do yet.
Only people who have been vaccinated in Britain can currently skip 10 days of quarantine when arriving from most of Europe or North America.
There is one exception to the rule change: France, which Britain has deemed a higher risk because of the presence of the Beta variant. Visitors from France will continue to face quarantine.
Heathrow Airport Chief Executive John HollandKaye said the government had made the “right decision.” British Airways also welcomed the move but urged the government to ease restrictions on visitors from more countries.
Claire Walker, co-executive director of the British Chambers of Commerce, said the announcement was “welcome news.”
“The long-term recovery of our entire economy also depends on reopening the U.K. to the two-way flows of people and trade,” she said.
The change hasn’t been universally reciprocated. Some European countries, including Italy, require British visitors to quarantine upon arrival. The U.S. this week also announced it is keeping a ban on most international visitors, and has advised Americans against traveling to Britain, citing a surge in infections driven by the more contagious Delta variant.
Virgin Atlantic Chief Executive Shai Weiss call for the U.S. to end its travel ban and for Britain to go further in opening up international travel. Weiss said “a continued overly cautious approach ... will further impact economic recovery and the 500,000 U.K. jobs that are at stake.”