Green list expected to be reviewed tomorrow

The changes will take effect a week later

Santorini could make the green list review tomorrow

The “green list” is expected to be reviewed tomorrow, raising hopes for an expanded choice of destinations for summer holidays.

International travel for leisure purposes resumed on 17 May in Britain under a traffic light system.

Just 12 destinations are sitting on the UK government’s green “safe” list for travel, which measures the risk of Covid reimportation, with Portugal the only mainstream holiday country requiring no quarantine for returning travellers.

The “red list”, for which 11 nights of hotel quarantine is mandatory for arrivals to the UK, is 43 countries strong. This is also expected to be updated on 3 June.

Every other country has been shuffled into the amber category, which includes most of Europe. Those entering the UK from amber countries must self-isolate for 10 days on arrival and take two post-arrival Covid PCR tests.

Any changes to the green list are expected to take effect from 4am on 10 June, a week from tomorrow.

It’s not yet known how the green list review will take place, and whether there will be a press conference to announce the changes.

Based on current infection data, there are hopes that some popular European holiday islands might be included, after the government confirmed it would follow the same “islands policy” as last summer.

The Balearic islands, which include Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca, as well as Greek islands Santorini, Zante, Kos and Rhodes, are thought to be prime contenders for inclusion.

Other candidates are thought to include Malta, Finland, Slovakia and some Caribbean islands including Grenada, the Cayman Islands, Fiji, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, St Kitts and Nevis, Turks and Caicos and Anguilla.

Robert Boyle, a former strategy director for British Airways’ parent company IAG, said in a recent blog post: “The government has also confirmed that it will look at the islands of Spain and Greece separately from the mainland.

“With case numbers lower in the islands, I do think there is a good chance that the Spanish and Greek islands will make it onto the green list.”