Those heading to popular, beachy holiday destinations such as Spain’s Balaeric Islands and some Caribbean Islands won’t have to isolate upon return as the UK has expanded their green list for travel.
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Popular holiday destinations get moved to the green list
Updates for the UK’s travel list were announced last night and will come into play at 4am on Wednesday the 30th of June. After that date, anyone who travels to Barbados, Ibiza and Minorca will be able to enjoy their holiday without having to take an extra two weeks off to isolate themselves.
The new additions to the green list include:
- The Balaeric islands: Ibiza, Menorca, Majorca and Formentera.
- Caribbean Islands: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
- Bermuda
- Malta
- British Antarctic Territory
- British Indian Ocean Territory
- Pitcairn Islands
However, the Department for Transport disclaimed that all the new destinations added to the green list - with the exception of Malta - will be placed on a watchlist. Also placed under the observation are Jerusalem and Israel. This means these destinations are ‘ at risk of moving from green to amber’, with Transport Secretary Grant Schapps noting that watchlist countries may be moved back to the amber list before the next three-week checkpoint. Schnapps explained:
Where there have been maybe cases where we… wanted to flag up that there may be issues down the line we have used the green watch list just to let people know, and remind people really, that it is possible in this pandemic for things to move and change quickly.
He continued: 'But nonetheless, for the time being, they are on the green list and that means you can come back without quarantining - subject to a test on return.'
Have any countries been moved to the red list?
While good news arrived with the expansion of the green list, some amber list countries moved in the opposite direction. Eritrea, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Mongolia, Tunisia and Uganda have now all been moved to the red list, meaning that travellers returning to the UK from these destinations will be required to undergo quarantine in a managed isolation facility.
The Department for Transport explained that the countries ‘present a high public health risk to the UK from known variants of concern’ and were moved to the red list ‘to safeguard domestic vaccine rollout.’
Fully vaccinated people to avoid quarantine
The government has also revealed that changes will come into play ‘later this summer’, allowing fully vaccinated residents to avoid quarantine when returning to the UK from amber list countries.
Additionally, fully vaccinated people will not have to provide an essential reason for visiting amber list destinations such as France, Greece, Italy. However, these countries may have their own requirements for entry.
Grant Schapps revealed that more details on the situation would emerge in July: ‘Thanks to our successful vaccination programme, our intention is that later in the summer UK residents who are fully vaccinated will not have to isolate when travelling from amber list countries.’
There are a number of questions that still need to be answered, but what we did want to do is let people know that this is something that we are actively looking at - but it won't be until later in the summer.
