17 countries should be eligible for travel green list, according to research

Next trafic light update is expected on Thursday 5 August

Austria should go green, claims expert (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

An extra 17 countries should be added to the travel green list at the government’s next traffic light review later this week, according to new research.

Data analysed by travel consultancy the PC Agency suggests 12 countries have low enough infection rates and high enough vaccination rates to go straight to green, while five are eligible for the green watchlist.

With Covid rates below 30 cases per 100,000 residents and close to half of the adult population vaccinated, Austria, Bosnia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia should be fully green, the agency told The Telegraph.

Meanwhile, it has said Bhutan, French Polynesia, North Macedonia, Norway and Saudi Arabia should be strong candidates for the green watchlist, which identifies countries that are green but at risk of turning amber.

The analysis also suggests that Bahrain, India, Kenya and Pakistan should move from the red to the amber list due to falling infections.

“Just create a simple go and no-go list, as Americans have, enabling the fully-jabbed to travel at will. It’s not rocket science,” PC Agency founder Paul Charles said of the current travel system.

The next review of the Department for Transport’s traffic light lists for international travel is expected on Thursday 5 August.

There are currently 29 green or green watchlist destinations, which come with the lightest restrictions for inbound travellers to the UK: they can forgo quarantine, regardless of vaccination status.

However, they must still present a negative lateral flow test in order to depart for the UK and a PCR test within two days of arrival.

Amber list arrivals who have been fully vaccinated in the UK, US, EU plus Switzerland, Norway and Iceland, may now follow the same rules as green list arrivals and swerve quarantine.

Those who have not had both jabs at least 14 days prior must continue to self-isolate for 10 days on arrival and take two PCR tests.