UK: Coming into force at 4am BST on Monday 2 August, fully jabbed travellers from the US and Europe will not need to quarantine when arriving in England from an amber listed country.
A ten-day trial organised at Heathrow airport, with the help of British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, involved around 250 fully vaccinated participants on flights from the USA, Caribbean and Europe to the UK. Travellers presented their Covid-19 vaccination status in digital or paper format, of which 99 per cent of credentials were correctly verified.
Under the new rules, which come into effect next week, travellers will still be required to take a test before they have arrived and on the second day after they have landed.
As well as opening to the EU and US, international cruises will also be allowed to restart from England.
Currently in the UK, travellers arriving from amber list countries need to have been fully vaccinated within the UK in order to avoid self-isolation. This policy excludes travellers that have been vaccinated elsewhere in the world, and does not apply to arrivals from France.
John Holland-Kaye, CEO of Heathrow said: “The vaccine has been a miracle of science, and these trials have shown that we can allow fully vaccinated passengers from the EU and US to visit the UK without quarantine. There is now no reason to delay with rolling out the solution from 31 July.”
Sean Doyle, British Airways’ CEO and chairman, said: “We are confident that this proving trial provides the evidence the government needs to allow fully vaccinated customers from low-risk countries to enter the UK, knowing it’s possible to do so smoothly and safely. The UK needs to safely re-open its borders as soon as possible to ensure loved ones can reunite, business can thrive and Global Britain is able to take advantage of the UK’s world-leading vaccination programme.”
Shai Weiss, CEO, Virgin Atlantic said: “The UK is already falling behind the US and EU and a continued overly cautious approach towards international travel will further impact economic recovery and the 500,000 UK jobs that are at stake. We urge the UK government to move the US to the UK’s green list and for the exemption from self-isolation to be extended to all fully vaccinated passengers with WHO-recognised vaccines, beginning with the US and EU.”
