Double-jabbed travellers returning to England from France will no longer need to quarantine. This is part of a series of easing of restrictions for key countries that come into effect at 4am on Sunday 8th August.
The UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said:
“I know how important holidays are to people. People think about them, they save up for them, people yearn to go abroad this year. I totally get that.”
We have got to balance that to protect the country from the influx of variants”
Seven countries, including Germany, Austria and Slovenia, will be added to the green list. For the first time, two countries – India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which includes the international hub of Dubai – are being removed from the red list and placed on the amber list which means quarantine-free travel for Britons who have had both doses of the vaccine.
There are now 36 countries on the green list – but 16 of them, including Caribbean islands, Croatia, Malta, Israel and Taiwan are on the “green watchlist”. This means hey could be suddenly be moved to amber.
There was speculation about Spain and Greece being moved to the amber plus list but those plans have been dropped.
These changes mean the summer holidays are back on for the rest of August and will allow family and friends who haven’t seen each other for some 15 months to finally be reunited.
Mexico and La Reunion are being added to the red list.
Even though changes come into effect at 4am on Sunday, anyone arriving back in the UK from France before that date would still have to complete a full 10 days of quarantine.
Other changes: There will also be a 30 per cent increase in the cost of hotel quarantine for red list travellers from £1,750 to £2,285 per adult.
Countries whose status has changed
Green
Double vaccinated and unvaccinated travellers can visit without quarantine on return. Pre-departure test and PCR test after arrival required.
- Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia, Romania, Norway
Amber
Double vaccinated travellers can visit without quarantine on return. Pre-departure test and PCR test after arrival required. Unvaccinated required to self-isolate for ten days, with two tests on days two and eight
- France (from amber plus), India, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE
Red
Arrivals must quarantine in hotels and have ap re-departure test and two PCR tests after arrival required
- Georgia, Mexico, La Reunion, Mayotte
