England scraps quarantine for Germany, France, Spain and Italy
People will be able to go on holiday to Germany, France, Spain and Italy from 10 July without needing to quarantine on return, the Department for Transport has confirmed.
A full list of countries that have been deemed exempt from the blanket 14-day quarantine rule will be published on Friday, ministers said.
However, the new rules only apply to those travelling to England, with devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland set to make their own rules.
The extended list will number 50 to 60 countries, including British overseas territories, transport secretary Grant Shapps told Sky News.
These countries have all been deemed low-risk in an assessment carried out by the Joint Biosecurity Centre in conjunction with Public Health England and chief medical officer Chris Whitty.
The assessment drew on a range of factors including the prevalence of coronavirus, the numbers of new cases and potential trajectory of the disease in that destination.
Countries will be ranked on a traffic light system according to perceived risk, Shapps told the BBC.
The US will be on the “red” list of banned countries, he confirmed.
He also confirmed that Greece would not be on the exempt list until 15 July at the earliest, which is when it reviews its own restrictions on incoming travellers from the UK.
This means that Boris Johnson’s father Stanley, who travelled to Greece earlier this week, will have to quarantine on return.
The Foreign Office will also make changes to its “all but essential” travel advice for a number of countries on Saturday.
In a statement, Shapps said: “Today marks the next step in carefully reopening our great nation.
“Whether you are a holidaymaker ready to travel abroad or a business eager to open your doors again, this is good news for British people and great news for British businesses”.
The blanket quarantine has been deeply unpopular since it was introduced on 8 June, with travel businesses, airlines and MPs all railing against the measures.
Richard Burge, chief executive of the London Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the decision, but said this approach should have been used from the beginning instead of the “absurd” quarantine.
“Britain’s participation in world trade was un-necessarily delayed and London’s role as a global city has been damaged for no reason”, he said.
There has been a great deal of speculation as to how the government would go about relaxing the measures, with an announcement delayed several times this week.
Shapps yesterday had seemed to suggest that Nicola Sturgeon was to blame for the delay, which Scotland’s first minister contested.
Speaking to the BBC, he said that he had held off on making today’s announcement in the hope that devolved administrations would be “ready to sign up”.
The list of exempted countries will be kept “under constant review”, the DfT said, with authorities able to reintroduce restrictions as and when necessary.