Sharjah24 – Reuters: Britain said that fully-vaccinated travellers returning to England from France will no longer have to quarantine, scrapping an extra rule imposed on its closest neighbour last month, as it also opened up to seven more countries.
The government said the change to France's status from Aug. 8 at 0300 GMT would help simplify its travel rules, and would also allow quarantine-free travel from more places, in a boost for the beleaguered travel industry.
Britain has one of the fastest vaccination programmes in the world but the government has so far stopped airlines and travel companies from making a full recovery with a maze of rules and last-minute changes which have scared off holidaymakers.
It operates a "traffic light" system for international travel, with low-risk countries rated green for quarantine-free travel, medium risk countries rated amber, and red countries requiring arrivals to spend 10 days in isolation in a hotel.
Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia, Romania and Norway will all be added to Britain's green list for low-risk travel from Aug. 8, the government said on Wednesday, meaning that arrivals into England from those places do not have to self-isolate whether they are fully vaccinated or not.
"While we must continue to be cautious, today's changes reopen a range of different holiday destinations across the globe, which is good news for both the sector and travelling public," transport minister Grant Shapps said in a statement.
The government also said the cost of hotel quarantine for an adult would increase to 2,285 pounds ($3,177.98) from 1,750 pounds to ensure taxpayers were not paying for the scheme.
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