Good news for holidaymarkers!
The travel traffic light system will be scrapped and replaced with a red list only from October 4, it was announced on Friday.
There will no longer be an amber list, so anywhere not on the red list will be considered free to travel to.
Travellers will also no longer have to take pre-departure tests when travelling from within the UK.
TRAVEL UPDATE🔊: we’re making testing easier for travel 🧳💉 From Mon 4 Oct, if you’re fully vax you won’t need a pre-departure test before arrival into England from a non-red country and from later in Oct, will be able to replace the day 2 PCR test with a cheaper lateral flow.
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) September 17, 2021
From the end of October, fully vaccinated travellers from non-red list countries will be permitted to replace PCR tests with cheaper lateral flow tests.
And from 4am on September 22, eight countries will be removed from the red list. These include: Turkey, Pakistan, The Maldives, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Oman, Bangladesh, and Kenya.
This new system is expected to remain in place until at least the new year.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the changes will mean a “simpler, more straightforward system” with less testing and lower costs “allowing more people to travel, see loved ones or conduct business around the world while providing a boost for the travel industry”.
He added: “Public health has always been at the heart of our international travel policy and with over 44 million people fully vaccinated in the UK, we are now able to introduce a proportionate updated structure that reflects the new landscape.”
Related links:
- UK’s Covid traffic light system ‘to be scrapped by October 1st’
- An essential survival guide to starting university in a Covid world
- Covid cases in England are 26 times higher than this time last year
