LONDON - Brits will be able to go on foreign holidays without having to self-isolate for 14 days upon returning. Summer vacations abroad have been given the green light after ministers confirmed the requirement to quarantine will be scrapped for a number of popular destinations, including France, Greece and Spain. The government confirmed it will revise the measures at a review on Monday. In place of the quarantine arrangements will be a traffic light system, with officials placing countries into green, amber and red categories based on the prevalence of coronavirus within each nation’s borders.
Only passengers arriving into the UK from nations in the red category, where the spread of coronavirus is deemed to be high, will be told to self-isolate for two weeks. Travellers will, however, still have to hand over the address they plan to reside at on their return, no matter which country they are coming back from. As well as allowing holidays abroad to take place this summer, the government said the changes would provide a ‘vital lifeline for UK travel operators and those whose jobs rely on the travel industry’. A government spokeswoman said: ‘Our public health measures at the border were put in place to manage the risk of imported cases and help prevent a second wave of the virus, and will continue to support our fight against coronavirus. ‘Our new risk-assessment system will enable us to carefully open a number of safe travel routes around the world – giving people the opportunity for a summer holiday abroad and boosting the UK economy through tourism and business. ‘But we will not hesitate to put on the brakes if any risks re-emerge, and this system will enable us to take swift action to reintroduce self-isolation measures if new outbreaks occur overseas.’(FA)