Holiday rules get tougher for unvaccinated as green and amber lists scrapped
UK’s international rules overhauled to be made easier for travellers
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Travel rules are getting tougher for anyone who has not had both of their vaccine injections.
In a clampdown on jab refuseniks, the Department for Transport announced that unvaccinated people will now have to self-isolate for 10 days on arrival in England and take two PCR tests, whether they are arriving from a red list country or not.
It was part of an overhaul of the UK’s international rules to make it easier for travellers.
People who are double-vaccinated will no longer have to carry out pre-departure Covid tests before returning to England from non-red list countries. PCR tests for travel will be phased out by the end of October, which will allow travellers to replace the second day test with a cheaper lateral flow test.
The government is opting for a “simplified” system for international travel from 4 October. Instead of the current traffic light system, from this date there will be one red list and simplified measures for the rest of the world.
Eight countries will also be moved from the red list from 4am on Wednesday 22 September, including Turkey, Pakistan and the Maldives.
As with the amber list at the moment, unvaccinated passengers will be able to take a day five “test to release” PCR test to get out of isolation slightly earlier.
See below for how our live coverage unfolded:
Today’s update will ‘reduce costs, take advantage of higher levels of vaccination’, says Shapps
The transport secretary Grant Shapps has confirmed on Twitter that there will be an update on UK travel rules later today.
Shapps tweeted: “I’ll set out measures to simplify international travel later today in order to reduce costs, take advantage of higher levels of vaccination, and keep us all safe,” adding three transport-themed emojis representing aviation, cruise ships and rail travel.
It is still unclear what time the Department for Transport’s announcement will take place, but it is looking likely that it will be late afternoon.
‘Now is the worst time to abandon all these safety protective systems’ – Independent Sage member
Zubaida Haque, a member of the Independent Sage advisory group, has urged ministers not to ease travel restrictions.
Speaking to Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio 2, she said: “Now is the worst time to abandon all these safety protective systems.
“Vaccines have changed the game. But it hasn’t changed the game in terms of you still falling ill. The Delta variant is significantly more difficult.”
But Ms Haque said: “I do have so much empathy for the travel industry and for people wanting to travel, particularly those wanting to see loved ones.”
She also criticised the government’s performance, saying: “The whole traffic light system has been chaotic, it has been expensive, it has been really unclear. And the worst part of it is that government has tried to do all of this chaotic stuff while still trying to continue with porous border restrictions.”
Revert to pre-pandemic style of FCO advice, says AITO chair
The chairperson of the Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO) has urged the government to revert to a pre-pandemic style of travel warnings on foreign countries, ahead of the transport secretary’s announcement later today.
“What we need the government to do is allow the world to open up, allow the industry to trade again,” Gemma Antrobus told ITV news.
She said she was hoping the government would “make it a very clear process of ‘you can go’ or ‘you can’t go’, which we already had in place with the Foreign Office prior to the pandemic” - referencing the reports that there will be simply two categories for countries going forward: safe or unsafe for travel.
“Let’s go back to a place where the world has opened up... and allow consumers to take the risk into their own hands,” said Antrobus.
Also appearing on ITV news, The Independent’s travel correspondent Simon Calder added: “What I hope we will see this afternoon is something that will give travellers much more confidence - because that’s what we are lacking.”
‘Wrong to rule out’ any backward steps on travel rules, says Downing Street spokesman
Asked about whether the travel rules changes to be announced today are likely to be permanent, a Downing Street spokesman has cautioned that “the pandemic is still ongoing and there is always the chance of unexpected challenges, such as an even more transmissible or more deadly variant emerging,” the BBC reported.
However, the spokesman added that the successful rollout of the vaccine “is enabling us to move steadily and remove restrictions, as you saw when we came out of Step 4” - referring to the widespread lifting of restrictions that took place across England on 19 July.
“I think it would be wrong to rule out anything in the future but it is important to note that we continue to make steady progress to ease restrictions, and that is very much the intention of the approach we will be taking,” said the spokesman.
Data analysts agree upcoming announcement looks promising
Two prominent data analysts have shown enthusiasm for the transport secretary’s upcoming announcements, which he hinted at on Twitter an hour ago.
“And Grant Shapps confirms the update we’ve all been waiting for will come later today… ‘take advantage of higher levels of vaccination’ - things we like to hear, let’s hope ministers mean it!” tweeted analyst Ben McCluskey in response.
Analyst Donal Kane tweeted a similar upbeat message, saying: “ So today supposedly we’ll get news on: Reduction in testing requirements (for vaccinated, anyway), Amalgamation of green and amber, Reduction in size of red list. All welcome, but they could and should go further.”
He added that he would like to see broader acceptance of vaccine certification “from many more countries” and a reduction in the severity of red list restrictions for vaccinated travellers returning to the UK.
“Sounds like steps towards normality, but far to go still,” added Kane.
Mounting fury among travel industry bosses about government plans
Travel industry leaders are seething at what they see as the government’s contemptuous attitude to them, writes The Independent’s travel correspondent, Simon Calder.
Airlines, holiday companies and travel agents who are desperate to know – for example – whether and when they can reinstate sales of trips to Turkey.
With rumours that two Caribbean islands, Grenada and Jamaica, could be placed on the red list, there is astonishment at the vacuum of information that ministers have created.
The latest tweet from the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has been ridiculed by Derek Jones – one of the most senior figures in the travel industry.
The chief executive of Der Touristik - parent company of Kuoni, Carrier, Kirker and Journey Latin America - tweeted an image purporting to be from the transport secretary.
It read: “This is an announcement to announce that later today I will be making an announcement.”
Update is ‘too late for many businesses’ says Travel Network Group boss
The CEO of the UK’s Travel Network Group - the UK’s largest membership organisation for independent travel businesses- has spoken out about the delay to this week’s update on the UK’s travel rules.
In a statement, Gary Lewis said: “The anticipated simplification of the traffic light system and reduction in the burden of cost of testing for travellers will be welcome news for the travel sector and will hopefully have a positive impact on future bookings. However, these changes will come too late for many businesses who have been severely impacted by a second summer season decimated by Government restrictions and uncertainty over travel.
Business have faced extreme cash-flow problems and with the furlough scheme coming to an end, travel business owners are now in an even more difficult position than last September. Our members are reporting huge inconsistencies between local authorities offering discretionary grants to businesses affected by the pandemic.
Despite funding being available, travel businesses are still not recognised as a sector at-risk. To enable people to keep their businesses afloat and support their families the government needs to urgently provide a dedicated ‘Travel Business Grant’ through the local authorities and ensure consistency of approach from authority to authority. Without renewed and consistent support for all affected travel businesses, the outbound travel industry as we know it will be changed irreversibly.”
New travel lists will be called ‘Red and ROW’, suggests industry boss
The travel PR CEO Paul Charles has pre-empted Department for Transport announcements by suggesting that the two lists replacing the traffic light categories may be known as ‘Red’ and ‘ROW’.
“Bye bye green and amber, and hello RED and ROW - red-list and rest of the world. Effective 4th Oct. Pre-departure tests will not be needed if you’re double-jabbed. PCR tests are to continue until near end of Oct, then replaced by antigen, to give test providers time to scale up,” tweeted Charles.
“#Kenya, #Oman, #SriLanka, #Egypt, #Maldives, #Turkey, #Pakistan, #Bangladesh being moved out of the red list and into ROW list,” Charles continued, but did not cite a source.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps has not confirmed any changes to the UK’s travel system, but an official government announcement is expected in the next hour or two.
We will have all the latest updates as they arise.
Pre-departure tests before arrival into England to be scrapped for fully-vaccinated travellers
Pre-departure tests before arrival into England to be scrapped for fully-vaccinated travellers
The transport secretary Grant Shapps has announced that from 4 October, travellers who have received both jabs of a Covid vaccine will no longer have to carry out a pre-departure test before arriving in England from a non-red list country.
He added: “From later in October, [fully-vaccinated travellers] will be able to replace the day two PCR test with a cheaper lateral flow.”
Eight countries to come off red list
From 4am on Wednesday 22 September, eight countries and territories will come off the red list, Grant Shapps announced.
These countries include Turkey, Pakistan, and Maldives, but the transport secretary has not released the full list.
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