The UK’s rules on foreign travel are set to be reviewed later, after industry bosses united in a desperate plea for the green list to be widened.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps will face MPs this morning, with an update on the traffic light system expected in the afternoon.
Travel bosses are calling for an exemption to quarantine for fully-vaccinated people from amber countries.
Mr Shapps has said ministers “need to look at what the science says”.
But the prospect of European holidays could face another hurdle, after German Chancellor Angela Merkel suggested all EU countries should make British travellers quarantine on arrival to slow the spread of the Delta variant.
She told Germany’s parliament: “In our country, if you come from Great Britain, you have to go into quarantine – and that’s not the case in every European country, and that’s what I would like to see.”
By contrast, when returning to the UK from most holiday hotspots on the amber list, travellers have to self-isolate for 10 days, as well as pay for tests.
‘I’m missing my granddaughter growing up’
Gillian Laidlow, a nurse from Bristol, is desperate to get to Portugal to see her daughter and granddaughter, but changing travel rules have forced her to postpone her visit four times.
“My granddaughter is growing up and I’m missing it,” she told BBC Breakfast.
After rescheduling several trips due the autumn lockdown and again in May, she was hoping to travel next Friday. But when Portugal was moved from the green list to the stricter amber list, she was forced to cancel once more.
She and her husband – who is also a nurse – would not have been able to quarantine for 10 days on their return. “We have fully booked clinics and can’t just move our annual leave around,” she said.
Their flight has now been rebooked for October. “We’ll keep everything crossed again,” she said.
Just 11 destinations are on the green list – including Gibraltar, Israel and Australia. Travellers do not need to quarantine when they get back from these countries, but they do have to pay for tests.
Countries on the red list are considered the highest risk, and travel from those nations is more strictly limited.
The UK government reviews which countries are on which list every three weeks, and the last update – when Portugal was stripped from the green list – was three weeks ago on 3 June.
As well as today’s review, the government has also said there will be a “checkpoint” review of the rules for each category on Monday 28 June. That could be when ministers decide whether to relax quarantine for fully-vaccinated travellers.
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On Wednesday, Mr Shapps told the BBC: “If you’ve been double vaccinated then of course we need to look at what the science says. We’ve said that Monday is the point to review that data, so we are coming up to having a look at it.
The UK government’s traffic light system applies to England, with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland able to make their own rules. However, the rules are broadly the same and previous changes to the lists have been adopted by all four nations.
The travel industry is nervous.
The school summer holidays, a crucial time for the sector to make much of its income, are looming and most holiday destinations are on the amber list, meaning arrivals from there to the UK have to quarantine at home and pay for at least three Covid tests.
Few are feeling optimistic that today’s expected announcement will see many destinations added to the green list.
But the industry is more hopeful that there could be news about removing the quarantine requirement for fully vaccinated passengers from amber list countries – though there is no guarantee whether or when this could be introduced.
Ministers have always said that their international travel policy will be guided by protecting public health.
Earlier this week, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said ministers were “working on” plans for fully-vaccinated people to be exempt from quarantine if they returned from amber-list countries.
More than 60% of UK adults have now been fully vaccinated, while 82.5% have had their first jab.
The latest daily Covid figures for the UK also showed a further 16,135 confirmed cases and 19 further deaths.
Hospital admission data is not updated as frequently as cases, deaths and vaccinations, but the most recent data – from 21 June – showed there were 1,508 people being treated for Covid in hospital.
