London: It will be in early May when Britain will confirm whether it will allow international travel from May 17 and which countries will f...
London: It will be in early May when Britain will confirm whether it will allow international travel from May 17 and which countries will fall into the red, amber or green categories in a new traffic light system based on Covid-19 risks.
Giving
fresh details of how it hopes to allow people to travel this summer, the
government's Global Travel Taskforce also said they were working on developing
a certification system, referred to as “vaccine passports", for inbound
and outbound travel.
Britain has been gradually
emerging from a strict winter lockdown prompted by a huge surge in Covid-19 cases
and deaths. As of now international travel is banned except under specific
circumstances defined by the government.
Covid-19 cases have dropped drastically
since the January peak, and one of the government's top priorities is to avoid
undermining the success of the national Covid-19 vaccination programme by
importing vaccine-resistant variants from abroad.
Till now, over 31.8 million
people in the UK have got at least one dose of the vaccine, while 6.1 million
have received two, in one of the fastest mass vaccination campaigns in the
world.
"The framework announced
today will help allow us to reopen travel safely and sustainably, ensure we
protect our hard-won achievements on the vaccine rollout and offer peace of
mind to both passengers and industry as we begin to take trips abroad once
again," said transport secretary Grant Shapps.
Airlines, travel companies and
members of the public keen to plan their summer holidays have been putting
pressure on the government to explain what the rules would be.
Under the new traffic light
system, restrictions such as hotel quarantine, home quarantine and compulsory Covid
tests will apply differently depending on which category of country a passenger
has come from.
There will be a "green
watchlist" identifying countries most at risk of moving from green to
amber, though the government said it would not hesitate to change a country's
category at short notice should the data show the risk had increased.
The taskforce recommended
removing a "permission to travel form" currently required, meaning
passengers would no longer need to prove they had a valid reason for leaving
Britain.
It also said it was working
with the travel industry and with private Covid-19 test providers to reduce the
cost of travel for the British public.
Under current rules, free
testing provided by the National Health Service is not available for the
purpose of travel, as a result passengers are forced to turn to private
providers who charge high fees for tests.
The taskforce indicated that
a digital travel certification system would be part of the plan. (Agencies)
No comments